The Calm After The Storm
by Luzzu
Summary: Chaos has returned to the planet along with Omega, but for Vincent there are still issues to deal with left in their wake. For the rest of Gaia, there's a planet that needs to heal and rebuild. CidxVincent.
1. Chapter 1

Set after Dirge of Cerberus.

Disclaimer: FFVII and all it entails belongs to Square Enix.

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"I told you we should go out for a beer." Cid grinned as he placed two full pint glasses on the table, slightly spilling the one he pushed toward Vincent. "You still take some convincing though, Vince."

The taller man accepted the drink with a gesture of thanks, a slight hint of a smile played at the edge of his mouth. "I answered my phone." It was a statement of fact, but still let Cid know that he should think himself lucky Vincent did that much. He was only half joking.

Cid took the seat in front of him. "Still wonder why you got that damn thing sometimes." His voice was good natured. After the years he'd known Vincent, he was quite used to his to the point answers, at least in his own way he was more cheerful these days.

With the events of Omega behind them, Cid had finally managed to get Vincent to come out for a few beers. He'd first mentioned it on the Shera; the airship named after his wife, during the crisis with Omega and Deepground. Since then, he'd called a couple of times and finally, Vincent had actually answered. He'd arranged to meet him in Kalm now that things had started to settle and the remaining residents had rebuilt the small town with the help of volunteers from the World Regenesis Organisation. Besides, going to Edge meant that they would probably be joined by Cloud and Tifa. Even though Vincent had become more sociable than he was, old habits died hard and Cid felt that somewhere quiet and away from familiar faces might be the best bet.

"How you been?" Cid asked

Vincent put his glass on the table. "I've been fine." He paused. "How are you and Shera?"

We've both been doing okay we're making adaptations to the ship. You know Shera, perfectionist to the last. The woman gets a goddamn bee in her bonnet and she won't quit until she's satisfied. At times like this I see so little of her I almost feel I have to remind her I exist, well if I wasn't so darn busy myself."

Vincent smiled. Even though Cid sounded like he was complaining, the glint in his eyes when he spoke of Shera told an entirely different story. "I'm glad everything's working out for you."

They fell into silence and just drank. Cid knew that Vincent's inquiry after him and Shera, whilst genuine, was still an evasion of expanding further about himself. "People have started moving back into and rebuilding Midgar."

"Yes, I'd heard. I hear rumour that Rufus is behind a lot of the funding." Vincent said.

"According to Reeve." Cid agreed. "Still, there's enough work to keep everyone pretty occupied at the moment."

"Everybody has a lot of healing to do. Rebuilding will help them do that."

"And what about you?" Cid asked.

"Reeve still manages to keep finding ways of coercing me into helping him. It keeps me busy enough." Vincent replied.

Cid sighed gently and took another mouthful. Swallowing loudly, he placed the now empty glass down in front of him. "That wasn't quite what I meant." He knew Vincent would evade anything personal like the plague without prompting first. There was also the danger the man wouldn't speak at all.

"Chaos has returned to the planet, so I suppose one of my inner demons has been laid to rest." Vincent's gaze met Cid's directly across the table. "I'm okay, Cid. Everything that's happened over the last few years is gradually putting things into perspective. What happened last year answered a lot of questions."

Cid grinned. "Glad to hear it. Because the next round is yours!"

Vincent smiled and snorted gently in mild amusement, picked up the empty glasses and walked over to the bar. He returned shortly with two full glasses and set them down. "I get the impression that your invitation for a drink this time isn't entirely social." He sat down, moving his cloak so he didn't catch on it.

Cid looked at him. "Ah, I've been busted. How'd ya know?" He chuckled with good grace and looked around the quiet pub noting no one was within earshot.

Vincent shrugged very slightly. "You brought up the subject of Midgar."

Cid smiled. "And that's suspicious?" He lit a cigarette.

"You didn't spend at least half an hour talking about the airship first."

Cid laughed, cigarette ash falling to the table. He brushed it away. "I'll remember that for next time. But you're right. For the most part, this is purely social but I made the mistake of mentioning to Reeve that I was meeting you and…well, you know Reeve. He jumped on the chance of having us both together in the same place and wants to ask a 'favour'."

"What this time?" Vincent said shortly, ignoring the smoke drifting across the table to him.

"It seems that the WRO have found files on some ancient technology, probably the same origins as the Shera. Reeve wants us to go and check it out."

"And Reeve doesn't have anyone else that can do this?"

"I argued with him about it. I told him I had better goddamn things to do than raking in the dirt for old bits of rusty metal when I could be playing about with metal that… isn't rusty." He gave a quick lame smile then continued. "But he wants us because of my familiarity with the technology already, and he wants you because…" Cid paused, taking a long pull on his cigarette. "To be honest, I don't know why he wants you. Beyond that he thinks it might be of interest to you."

"Why?"

Cid sighed. "Ah, how the hell would I know, Vince? For all I know, he might think it's a good way of keeping you off the streets."

"I doubt Reeve sees me as some delinquent teenager." Vincent said watching the smoke curling in the air. A hand gesture stifled the objection Cid was about to voice. "I know what you meant."

"I'm not over keen on the idea myself, it's bloody cold up there. But I'm interested if there's a possibility some of it could be used for the Shera. Even though we still have a box of stuff we don't know what the hell it does, and there's no sensible reason to be adding to it. But, I can't help it, it's engineering and if it gives me a chance to tinker with the ship even more, I'm hardly going to say no."

Vincent looked thoughtful.

"Ah, come on." Cid said. "I can't just have a bunch of WRO raw recruits for company."

"Fine. I'll accompany you." Vincent suppressed a sigh. Yet again, Reeve had managed to coerce him into more work. At least this time the subject was more interesting.


	2. It begins

Cid strode onto the deck of the Shera. "Right you numbskulls! You ready for adventure?!" He grinned broadly at his crew.

Vincent stood to one side of him. "You're actually enjoying this aren't you." he said quietly, only his close proximity to the captain stopped the raucous reply of the crew drowning out his words.

"Ah, lighten up, Vince. This could be fun." Then the grin suddenly faded.

"Is there a problem?" Vincent asked him.

"Our first stop is in the Northern continent near the Great Glacier. Damn it!"

A young crew member looked round at his captain's vehement outburst. Vincent noticed. "I remember his reaction to the snowboarding last time. He wasn't overly enamoured." He said to the young man.

Cid turned his attention to the unfortunate crew member. "Who said you could take your eyes off your station? These goddamn kids, you think they'd have more important thing to do then eavesdrop."

The young man quickly saluted. "Sorry, sir!"

Cid's wink in his direction caused the cadet to audibly sigh in relief, which nearly drew him unwanted attention again. He hurriedly turned back to his station vowing never to get distracted again.

Cid clapped Vincent on the back. "Vincent, you _have_ got a sense of humour. Who says I don't like snowboarding?"

"Haven't we got somewhere to be going?"

Cid hrmphed at Vincent as he walked over to take the helm. "Right you lot. I want to be ready to leave in ten, no, make that five."

Vincent found somewhere to stand, listening to Cid grumping at everybody to get the ship moving. He gave the airship it's due, unlike on the Highwind, it didn't make him lurch and nearly lose his balance when it took off. Figuring that on the deck, he would be under the feet of the crew, he left Cid barking orders and went to find somewhere quiet to sit and read through the file reports.

Cid saw Vincent leave the bridge. Initially, like much of the rest of the motley crew he now called friends, he hadn't thought that highly of Vincent - far too dark and brooding. But the years had let him get to know Vincent better and he'd found, that though he was dark and brooding; he had enough justification for about three people, Vincent had a wry sense of humour too. He was also impressed by the man's ability to stay calm in any given situation. The only time he'd seen Vincent come close to losing his cool was when faced with Hojo and Lucrecia. Both at different times and both very different emotions, but it had shown a depth to Vincent that hadn't been seen before.

It was a shame that life being what it was, they didn't get a chance to meet up very often. He was busy helping out Reeve, as was any one else with half ounce of skill. Cid was starting to wonder if there was anyone left on the planet that reeve hadn't drafted into the WRO, even unofficially. Vincent had done his fair share of favours for Reeve. He always seemed disinterested for the most part, but Cid knew that Vincent hadn't really got anything else to do, so it passed the time. He knew it must be hard on him. After the events of the last three years everyone's live were pretty much in uproar. Homes destroyed, loved ones lost. Everyone thought that the curing of Geostigma had been the last of the nightmare. Then Deepground and the Tsviets had turned up.

Now that was finally over, people were rebuilding their lives. No one necessarily had much to go back to, but there was something. Cid had Shera, and his airship and there was always plenty of work. Cloud, despite the problems he'd had, had worked through them as best he could and was back to running his delivery service, back with Tifa and taking care of the kids. Cid still had no idea what the two of them had going on, but like everyone else, had mentally shrugged and figured providing the pair of them were happy, what did it matter. Barret had Marlene and his life, Yuffie had Wutai to look after and Cait Sith - Reeve, was now commissioner of the WRO.

Cid called down to one of the crew. "We got a ETA yet?"

"We've got fair weather, Captain, so probably no more than 7 hours if we keep at this speed."

Vincent hadn't had a life to go back to. The life he did have had been ended tragically thirty three years before at the barrel end of Hojo's gun. The events that led to his murder/attempted murder? Cid was never quite sure on that count inasmuch as Vincent was quite obviously alive, but how much of that was down to Hojo's experiments?. He knew that Hojo had done some incredibly inhumane things to Vincent, but it's not as if Vincent had ever openly talked about what had happened to him. Cid had only been told vague details, but enough to know that half of what happened, Vincent had found out only recently himself. Either way, with his hatred of Shinra and everything it stood for, and what had happened to him, there was no option of returning to his position as a Turk. Vincent had declared himself unforgivable as the woman he loved chose Hojo, bore him a child that Hojo experimented on even before it's birth, and raised where his mother could never touch him, causing Lucrecia, in her grief, to disappear to unknown whereabouts.

Even though he'd found Lucrecia many years later, they could never return to where they were. Lucrecia, whilst not exactly dead, because the Jenova Cells in her body wouldn't allow her to die, couldn't be counted truly among the living either. She had encased herself in mako crystals, as dead to the world as she could manage. Cid knew the history between them was long and complicated, and there were things that didn't make sense to him, but it sufficed to say, that as a man thirty years out of time, there was nothing left for Vincent except for his need to atone for his 'sins'.

Cid had always thought Vincent was talking from his ass on that point as he could never figure what it was Vincent believed he'd done wrong. That girl, Shelke was making a difference to Vincent's life. But she and Vincent had a connection to each other through Lucrecia, which Cid didn't really count as moving on. In his mind, Vincent had just found another way to face backwards. But the girl was in some ways, helping Vincent to move on, and Vincent had started believing himself that it was time to start living again.

Cid had been glad to see the change, even if it was only small. He was still concerned about him but Reeve was keeping Vincent busy and that meant that Vincent would continue to keep living.

He called over a crew member. "Watch her. And make sure we don't go off in the wrong direction."

"Aye, Sir!"

Cid left the bridge to find Vincent and go over the files with him.

----------------

"Hello, Reeve."

Reeve turned round at the familiar voice, surprised. "Pr…Rufus." It took a concentrated effort not to call him 'President' or 'Sir'. Old habits died hard. "This is unexpected. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Rufus straightened the hem of his familiar white suit jacket and walked further into the room. The room was sparse, with a few large monitors and a control board with a keyboard and various coloured buttons. Like the rest of the building, the room had a clinical feel to it.

"I heard some rather interesting news on the grapevine." Rufus said.

"You have?" Reeve was still wary of Rufus. Whilst the man had seemingly proved his intentions to be good, he was still his father's son and not all family traits had been bypassed. There was still a self serving aspect to Rufus that made Reeve feel he could never comfortably turn his back on the man. "It is that interesting that we skip social niceties?" He gestured to a small table with a few chairs.

"I'm sorry. Where are my manners?" Rufus smiled. "How are things?" He settled back into his chair with an air of casual arrogance.

Reeve smiled back, noting Rufus made very no allusions to any real sincerity. "We're keeping busy. The rebuilding of Midgar is progressing well and is mostly on schedule. Kalm is almost as it was, but then the damage there wasn't as extensive."

Rufus nodded. "You said mostly on schedule."

"We had a set back on one of the buildings. There was a workforce assigned to a part of sector 6. The building next to the one they were working on was deemed structurally sound enough to not pull it down immediately. Unfortunately, a nasty incident with a Dual horn caused the injury of some of the workers and put paid to the structural strength of the building. It collapsed onto the workers. Thankfully no one was killed and the Dual horn was dealt with, but one of the men is still in hospital rather severely injured."

"No one was killed, so that is good news. But I think the question that needs answering on that is what exactly was a Dual horn doing in Midgar?" Rufus asked.

"We wondered that too. The lack of evidence for anything else led us to believe that it had just happened to wander through." Reeve looked thoughtful, like he still had his doubts.

"You thought there could have been something else behind it?"

"We weren't sure, but we had to check it out. Mainly it's been pretty peaceful but there have been minor incidences of work being disrupted. It would seem that not everyone wants to see the rebuilding of Midgar." Reeve looked round as there was a message came through on the central screen. "Excuse me a moment, Rufus."

"Certainly. Don't mind me."

Reeve nodded, noting that Rufus seemed to be incapable of making conversation niceties sound genuine. He turned to the screen to be confronted by the grinning face of Caith Sith. "Reporting!" He said cheerfully. Reeve smiled. "Can this wait until later, I've a guest at the moment."

"Ah, it's not urgent. Shall I report to Shelke first?" Cait Sith sounded perpetually cheerful as usual.

"Yes, that would be a good idea. I shall catch up with you both later." Reeve turned the screen off.

"Shelke?" Rufus said as Reeve turned back to face him. "Would that be Shelke the Transparent of the Tsviets?"

"Yes, that would be her. She has been of enormous help to me."

"I would imagine she would. Especially on sifting through information on technology." Rufus said, smiling.

_Now we get to what he's really here for._ "Data analysis is her speciality." Reeve said, not giving anything away. If Rufus wanted information, he would have to ask for it.

"I hear rumour of some new technology that has been found." Rufus said casually.

"It's old news, Rufus. Captain Highwind's airship was discovered quite some time ago." Reeve answered back, equally as casually.

"That wasn't what I meant."

"If you are talking about the current rumours, they are little more than just that. Rumours." Reeve decided that he should say something else, lest he really look like he had something to hide. "It appears to be nothing of any great importance. You seem very well informed."

"As a former president of the Shinra company, old habits die hard, as I'm sure you appreciate, Reeve. So, this technology is unimportant enough to send Mr Highwind _and _Mr Valentine to investigate?"

Reeve refused to be verbally outmanoeuvred by Rufus. He was a shrewd man, but Reeve hadn't got to where he was by being slow. "Cid was sent because of his familiarity with his ship and therefore the technology. Vincent." He paused. "Vincent is a hard man to understand on any count as to why he does what he does. Cid asked for his company and Vincent agreed. It could be purely because the men are friends." Reeve didn't ask how or why Rufus knew both men were on the case. It was enough to know that he did, which meant Rufus had something in mind.

Rufus, knowing that he would get no more information here as Reeve could be as evasive as he could decided it was time to continue his investigation elsewhere. He stood. "Well, they are both highly capable men. I'm sure they shall discover anything there may be to know about this technology."

Reeve had also got to his feet. "I'm sure they will."

"I apologise for my sudden departure, but I have some things that require my attention."

"Of course. I have work myself."

They nodded as a mutual parting gesture. Just as the door opened to allow Rufus through, he turned to Reeve. "You do know who's funding you?"

"Not definitely, no." Reeve had a very good idea though, and he was looking directly at him.

"It would be terrible to lose those funds." It sounded almost like a barely contained threat, but only almost.

"Indeed. It would be a huge blow to the WRO. But I'm confident our benefactor will continue his support." Reeve said.

"Oh I'm pretty sure whomever he is will continue. I doubt very much he would withdraw his help at this time or any other." Rufus smiled slightly. "Until next time." Then he was gone.

Reeve let out an audible sigh. Just what was that man up to? Reeve disliked dealing with Rufus, the verbal games frustrated him. Equivocal statements, ambiguity, parrying indirect questions with evasive answers spoke too much of distasteful politics. But he wasn't past understanding them, you didn't get to the position he had held in Shinra Inc. without learning a thing or two.


	3. Icicle

They had landed outside the small town of Icicle. With a small team of WRO volunteers they had made their way into the town to get a drink. As much as Cid loved his airship, he had no objection to finding a cup of tea, especially when it was this damn cold.

"Is there any reason you couldn't have had a cup of tea on the ship?" Vincent asked as they entered a small wooden building.

They found seats and asked for tea from the young girl that came up to serve them.

"See, now there you have the problem with the damn thing," Cid said with a grimace. "As beautiful as she is, there is nowhere to plug a kettle in."

"Then I'm surprised we didn't stop more frequently."

"Ah, shut up and drink your goddamn tea," Cid grumbled.

"I would, if I had any," Vincent quipped.

Sniggering broke out among the team. Cid glared at them and they laughed some more, though more hushed. Tea was brought, drunk and they discussed plans for identifying and recovering the contraption that the WRO wanted so badly. After all were agreed on the plan, it was decided that Cid and Vincent would go down to the Great Glacier first, survey the area and call the rest of the team once they'd found the location. Cid rose from his chair. "Well, I hope you lot know how to bloody snowboard, because that's the only way to get down there."

One young man of the group stood up, bringing a hand up level with his red hat in salute. "We were picked by the commissioner for our expertise with technology and our ability to negotiate this terrain, Sir."

Cid was about to respond, but decided against it, it seemed like too much effort. It was getting late and the boy's enthusiasm made his head hurt. "Sit down and finish your tea, lad. Go get some sleep, you're on free time for now. We'll call you when we've got something."

"Aye, Sir!"

With a nod, Cid and Vincent left the inn and walked down toward the slope that led to the Great Glacier.

"Snowboards would probably be useful at this point," Vincent said.

Cid chuckled. "Reeve was on the case already. Apparently there is someone there to meet us. He's got the snowboards."

Vincent didn't answer immediately. "I remember you saying something similar once. If I recall, I didn't drink the tea then either."

Cid looked over at his friend slightly confused, then it clicked. _The tea_. "Watch it, Vince. Twice in one day and I'm gonna start thinking you're a bloody comedian."

Vincent smiled. After the years they'd known each other, Cid's open ridicule about his less than obvious sense of humour still hadn't become tiresome. "You never know, Highwind. You may hear me laugh yet."

"You're fucking kidding me, right?" He shook his head in mock disbelief. A gust of wind blew, Cid rubbed his arms with his hands and shivered. "It's still too bloody cold in this place."

"Put your jumper on then," Vincent said.

"Goddamn it, Vince. It's pink."

"And?" Vincent asked.

"I'm not wearin' a pink jumper. I'll grab a coat later on," Cid said by way of an explanation.

"Then why do you have it at all?"

Cid sighed, smiling. "It's a bloody long story, and maybe, if I ever hear you laugh, I'll tell you it."

As they approached the edge of the village, a WRO member came toward them awkwardly dragging two snowboards. "Mr. Highwind, Mr Valentine, sirs. I have your boards."

They took them. "Thank you," Vincent said.

Cid nodded his thanks.

"I've been told to report to you with an update of the weather forecast. The winds are supposed to picking up quite a bit of speed and we're expecting a storm. You're not planning on making the trip down there tonight are you?" The WRO member looked concerned that they might really be considering it.

"Not tonight. We'll stop at the inn. Cid and I will head out first thing in the morning." Vincent replied.

"Very well, sirs. I shall be heading back to my post, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." With a quick salute, the middle aged woman headed back to a small shack near the trees.

"That never used to be there, did it?" Cid asked Vincent as they turned away and headed back toward the inn.

"Reeve would seem to have small posts everywhere now. The WRO are not exactly a small organisation."

"I know Reeve isn't the money for them. I'm wondering, that as everyone sees Reeve as the front man, if there isn't going to be trouble in the background," Cid said.

Vincent drew his cloak around him a little more as the wind picked up. "I don't know. I don't believe Rufus will want to remain in the shadows forever, whether he supplies the money or not."

They walked the rest of the way back in silence, both men eager to get out of the cold. They were greeted by the light of a warm fire as they entered the building. An attendant came up to them with a key. "Your colleagues have all retired for the night. Here's your key." She handed a key to Cid. "Would you like me to show you to your room?"

"No, thank you." Vincent said as he shifted the snowboard and went to carry it upstairs.

"Oh, excuse me, sir," the attendant said before Vincent got past the second step. "We have a secure cupboard round the back where I can store those for you. It'll save you having to carry them up the stairs."

Vincent came back down. "Thank you."

Cid said his thanks too as the large man behind the reception desk came over, picked up both snowboards and disappeared out the back with them.

Both men went upstairs. The room was easy enough to find, the inn wasn't that big, though it was a little bigger than either of them remembered. Cid unlocked the door to reveal a smaller room than the rest of the team were occupying. There were two single beds to one side of the room with small bedside cabinets and a heater on the opposite side. Cid flopped down on the bed closest to the heater in the hope of getting some warmth back into his limbs. "You know, we are pretty lucky I suppose. We could have had to sleep on the Shera, while it's okay, it doesn't beat sleeping in a decent bed."

"I would've thought you'd be happier to stay on the ship," Vincent said. "There was a time you'd have found it preferable. But then you used to curse more too."

Cid chuckled. "Yeah. Blame Shera. Whilst she's an excellent engineer and as obsessive over her work as I am, she's trying to get us living as close to a normal couple as possible. Same goes for the swearing. I promised Shera I'd try and cut it down; she wants to have children you see."

"Children?" Vincent said in a vague tone.

"Yeah, children. You know, those things that look like adults but are smaller?"

"I know what children are, Cid." Vincent wasn't sure why the idea of Cid with children made him, not exactly uncomfortable, but something akin to it. Ignoring it, he just said, "Well, she's a married woman, it is natural that she would want them." Vincent sat on his own bed. "We should get some sleep. The weather should be a bit clearer in the morning, an early start would be the wisest course of action."

"Yeah," Cid said. He lay there staring at the ceiling, arms folded behind his head. He nodded in agreement as Vincent gestured towards the light switch. He lay staring at the ceiling in the dark thinking about Shera and the idea of children. He wasn't against the idea, and he wasn't overly enthusiastic. He sat somewhere in the middle, though the idea of teaching his little one everything he knew about airships, piloting anything that had an engine and his love of all things mechanical made him smile. Vincent's reaction seemed…odd. But he figured Vincent was just mildly surprised, thought no more of it and fell asleep.

The room was slightly chilly when he awoke, Vincent was also not there. Cid got up and readied himself for the day, unsurprised by this. He went downstairs to find Vincent sat at one of the tables with Cid's jacket on the chair next to him, two backpacks and the two snowboards were propped up nearby. As Cid approached, he also saw a cup of tea sat on the table. He smiled. "You're an early bird as usual." He took the tea gratefully.

"I was awake. I saw no reason in waiting for you to wake before getting everything ready, so I returned to the airship, retrieved what we needed from there and returned here. The tea I can't take credit for."

Cid wondered how long Vincent had actually been awake. The airship wasn't _that _close to Icicle, but then he wasn't sure if Vincent actually slept. Maybe thirty years of sleeping did that to a man, maybe it was something else. Focusing on the task in hand, Cid asked, "Have we got everything we need?"

"For now. The rest of the team will follow with extra equipment when we call them. Though as we don't know what exactly it is we are dealing with, it's not certain we have everything we might need anyway," Vincent said.

"Well, as long as we have the basics for food and warmth and what we need to find this bloody thing, then I'm set." Cid put his jacket on and hoisted a large backpack onto his shoulders.

"Do you have the map?" Vincent asked.

Cid dug around in his pocket and pulled out a very dogeared rolled sheet of thick paper. "You'd think I could find a friggin' better map of that place by now, but no. I had to go and get this one from Cloud. I was amazed he still had it."

Everything set, the two men left the inn and walked through the village toward the slope leading to Great Glacier.


	4. Great Glacier

It was as exhilarating as ever, feeling the wind in his face as the landscape went rushing by. Goggles covered his eyes, but Vincent just ahead of him was throwing up enough snow spray that it didn't improve his visibility any; but the red of Vincent's cloak was easy to keep sight of through the stark white, so Cid was using Vincent as a guide. The route wasn't the safest, with rocks jutting out of the snow and tunnels to negoitate. Cid was glad that unlike the game at Gold Saucer, at least here he didn't have to worry about catching balloons or avoiding playing Moogles.

They were approaching the end of the slope when the tip of a rock caught the side of Vincent's board. He veered wildly, changing his direction of to the left side of the slope. Cid could see that Vincent had no choice but to follow a different path. With no option but to continue the way he was going, Cid concentrated on reaching his destination in one piece. Vincent was more than capable of taking care of himself. Flying off the end of the slope, he resisted the urge to close his eyes for a second. The feeling of flying never grew tiring, but he needed to see the ground. He landed with more grace than he expected, continued a little way then turned the board at an angle to slow down. Coming to a gentle stop, he raked around in his pockets for his phone. He pushed at the buttons, swore, and pulled one glove off with his teeth and dialled again. He stuck his removed glove under his arm listening to the ringing at the other end.

"Hello?" The recognisable timbre of Vincent's voice came through the interference.

"Where the hell are you?" Cid almost yelled down the phone. The wind was picking up again, chilling Cid's exposed hand.

"In some trees it would seem," came Vincent's deadpan reply.

"Well stop fucking about and get your ass in gear. I'm bloody freezing."

"I'm to the south west of you if I remember my bearings. I should be with you in about half an hour."

"Half an hour! I'm gonna be a blasted Popsicle if I stand here much longer," Cid growled through chattering teeth.

"Then move about."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. Just don't get bloody lost." Cid closed the connection put the phone back in a pocket and struggled to get his now frozen fingers back into the relative warmth of his glove.

The phone disappeared back into the hidden folds beneath Vincent's cloak, picked up his snowboard and walked through the trees to the path a little way ahead. He saw the path was sloping down gently in the direction he was headed. It wouldn't save much time, but it would cut some time off of the estimate he gave Cid. If nothing else, it would spare his ears a little. Cid's cutting out swearing wasn't the most successful thing he'd ever done, and the more irritated Cid was, the more colourful his language became.

The slope in the path wasn't enough to give Vincent much more speed than a run, luckily the wind, though lessened by the trees, was behind him otherwise it wouldn't have been worth his while at all. It was surprisingly quiet. Not that Vincent was surprised by this, even though they were still about, there were less monsters roaming the world than there had been before the Jenova war.

The slope levelled out, giving Vincent no other choice than to walk the rest of the way to meet Cid. Leaving the wooded area, he was less protected from the wind and his cloak whipped round his legs as he walked along. He stopped to gain his bearings. Vincent knew that Cid, providing he had stayed on course down the slope, should be on the eastern side of Great Glacier, nearer towards the rocky outcrops that bordered it. Looking around, he noticed not too far off in front of him was the edge of a body of water. He walked over to it and could just make out a large white mound on a small island in the centre. Trees were to the other side of him. He was going in the right direction. If he followed the path that kept the lake to his left, it would lead him to Cid's location.

He passed the ice flow, remembering how Cloud had fallen into the freezing water on more than one occasion trying to get to see if there was anything in the cave at the centre. Ten minutes further up the path, he caught sight of a blue coat. Cid was up ahead stamping from foot to foot at the fork in the path. As Vincent approached he could see flakes of snow caught in Cid's stubble. "You should have found somewhere more sheltered to stand." Vincent raised his voice enough to be heard above the wind.

"Then you wouldn't have seen me. Come on lets get moving; I'm freezing my nuts off here."

They took the easterly fork towards the rock lined path. Here, no longer being assailed by the wind, Cid took the opportunity to light what he felt was a long overdue cigarette. He sighed "I bloody needed that," he said as he exhaled the first drag.

"Has Shera not asked you to cut them out too?" Vincent said gesturing to the cigarette.

"I don't think she's that brave," Cid laughed. "The swearing is one thing, but I'm too damn long in the tooth to give this up now."

They stood short of an area of rocky outcrops just to the side of the three way split in the path. "According to Reeve, this is the location," Vincent pulled a sheet of paper out from side pocket of the backpack he had been carrying to double check.

"Well, in that case, we'd better stop dawdling around and get on and find this damn thing. Do we know what it is we are actually looking for?" Cid threw a small device at Vincent.

Vincent caught it. "I have no idea. Only that we are looking for a technological machine comparable in origins to your airship."

"That's where these little babies come in handy,"

Vincent looked at the small gauge looking machine in his hand. "What is it?"

Cid looked almost lovingly at the little device. "It's essentially a metal detector. This little beauty is a little more complex than your average one and is tuned to specifically pick up the components that are found in the Shera."

"When did you make these?"

Cid chuckled. "Once the Shera had been found, I had a feeling there may have been more to find. It was just a matter of fine tuning."

"I'm impressed," Vincent said. He genuinely was too; in Cid's case appearances were deceptive.

"Well stop being impressed and get on and use it."

Vincent noted that Cid made no attempt to show him how to. Before he could speak, Cid did.

"It's already calibrated. Just switch it on and you're good to go. I'm sure you'll work the rest out as you go along."

Both men searched along the stretch of rocks along the ground in between them, small beeps sounding at regular intervals. Cid approached a clear piece of ground, the beeps increased. "I think I'm on to something here," He called to Vincent.

Vincent came over and stood watching patiently as Cid tried to pinpoint the exact location. "Whatever it is, it's pretty big. But the signal isn't quite strong enough, here's not quite it."

"Have you tried there?" Vincent pointed to a large rock that appeared to be encased in thick ice.

Cid whistled. "How the fuck did I miss that?"

"It's covered in snow, Cid. I had to look twice before I saw it and my eyesight is better than yours."

Cid looked mildly annoyed and lit another cigarette. "True." He walked over and held the detector to it, which promptly increased its beeps to almost a continuous buzz. "That'd be it then." Cid smiled. Then he frowned. "The question is, is how do we get into it. I've tools on me, but that ice has been there for a long time. Even a bloody big ice pick is going to have trouble with that, and I don't really like the idea of throwing a grenade at it."

"You still carry grenades?" Vincent asked.

"Heh, you never know when you might need one. The way life's been over the last good few years."

Vincent nodded. "You call the team. I'll deal with the ice."

Cid walked a safe way distance, calling the team leader. He watched Vincent as he cast fire spells, gradually melting the ice. Vincent was far more adept with magic. Cid, as a firm believer in science was more physical; he felt awkward and clumsy using magic.

The ice had been melted, exposing the bare rock. Cid stood near it for warmth as it radiated heat that it had absorbed from the fire spells. "The cavalry should be arriving in a few hours." He retrieved his backpack, fished out a fresh pack of cigarettes and poked one in his mouth. Sucking on a match light, he spoke. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting darn hungry." He fished some wrapped packages and threw one toward Vincent. "Field rations; WRO standard, so not the tastiest thing you'll ever have the misfortune to chew on."

Vincent put them to one side and joined Cid leaning against the now slightly cooler rock to wait. "Have we got the equipment we need to break through the rock?"

"From what I can tell, they're kitted out with everything from thermometers to stone cutters. Hell, they've even got a chocobo that can run down here. Typical bunch of scientists that have funding. Though I believe the chocobo is a personal pet of one of them. Bloody good one too, one of the black ones."

"I thought black chocobos were pretty rare," Vincent said.

"For someone who's spent the past few years wandering round, you sure miss a lot, you know." Cid shook his head. "I take it you've been nowhere near Gold Saucer for a while?"

"It's not somewhere I generally choose to spend time."

"Didn't think so. Anyway, I took Shera there once. I ran into Ester, the woman who manages the jockeys; turns out, that she had a delivery from Cloud, they got talking and Cloud told her about that strange guy up in the mountains…what's his face?"

"The Chocobo Sage, I presume is the one you mean."

"Yeah, that's the guy. Turns out Ester went and spoke with him, now she's breeding chocobos. She's making a mint at it too."

"She and Cloud did seem to get on quite well." Vincent said in a slightly distracted tone.

"Yeah, Cloud gets on with a lot of people in that abstract way of his, but some good's come out of it for Ester." Cid flicked his dog end and got on with eating his field ration.

The ration long since finished, and half a packet of cigarettes later, the sounds of sledges, calls of instructions and the 'wark' of a chocobo broke the silence. The group of WRO members came into view, with a black chocobo pulling a large sledge up front.

Cid rose from the small rock he was sitting on and strode towards them. "'bout time you lot got here. I thought I was gonna die of old age before you managed to drag your sorry asses down here."

"We came as quickly as we could, sir. Sorry, sir." A WRO man jumped down off the sledge and handed the chocobo's reins to a colleague. "What do you need us to do?"

"First things first, we've gotta smash that rock over there without damaging whatever might be inside. Think you can do that lad?"

"Yes sir, no problem." The young man returned to the sledge and began directing the unloading of the equipment.

Cid wandered back over to Vincent. "So, you think we'll have to nursemaid this lot or do you reckon we can leave them to get on with it?"

"I believe them to be all competent individuals. What did you have in mind?"

"It's getting late, so we've only got a few hours of light left. We need to set up camp of some kind as we're not going to make it back to Icicle tonight. Also, the hot springs aren't too far from here, and I have an urge to go check them out if the wind doesn't pick up. Nothing like a soak to ease tired muscles."

"I suggest we get the camp set first," Vincent said. "Are you sure, it's very cold.

"I've never done it before. You should try everything once."

An hour later, a few tents and a crudely thrown together lean to had sprung up on a sheltered and relatively rocky free patch. Cid had taken care of what he deemed was the most important thing -a camping mini gas cooking ring and an old fashioned kettle had been set up. Cid brushed his hands together in a satisfied way. "That's the most important things done, now it's time for a relaxing soak, a cup of tea and then sleep." He turned to Vincent. "Come on, we'll leave the lads to it. They'll be packing up for the night soon anyway."

Vincent said nothing as he accompanied Cid, who having grabbed a few towels and his spear had headed off for the hot spring.

Cid eased himself into the water with a satisfied sigh. "The only thing that makes it worth coming here really. You not joining me?"

Vincent had perch himself nearby on a rock. "There are still monsters here; one of us should keep a watch."

"A few Ice Golems maybe, but nothing we can't handle." Cid sunk a little lower, the water lapping gently at his upper chest.

Vincent looked over to Cid's spear, lying on the ice within Cid's reach. "Maybe; but I'd rather not have to handle it naked." He went back to looking at the hot spring the other side of the path, ears listening for anything else that might be present.

"Suit yourself," Cid said shaking the excess water from his hands and reaching for his cigarette packet and the box of matches sat on top of them. He lit one, not taking it from his mouth he looked over at Vincent and said, "You should relax once in a while. It wouldn't hurt you know."

"I am relaxed."

" Like hell you are." Cid moved his head back round to save his neck when it was obvious Vincent wasn't going to say anything further on the subject.

"The wind will pick up again soon," Vincent said.

"I just remembered why no one comes here. I've got to get out again."

Vincent turned to face the back of Cid's head and smiled. "You have about thirty five seconds to get enough clothes back on before you succumb to the cold. Given the wind chill is less than usual, you may have forty five."

Cid grimaced at the thought. "I knew I was too old for this shit." Then he grinned. "It's a challenge."

As they approached the three way split in the path, not far from the camp the wind picked up. "Good job I bloody moved when I did," Cid said, his teeth chattering. They clambered downwards toward the camp. A glow was coming from the lean to in the fading light. The WRO members had finished for the day and were now sat in a group, talking about the days events and drinking tea.

"Ah, you're just in time, sir." One of the women of the group poured a cup and handed it to Cid, which he took appreciatively.

One of the group, a middle aged man called Joseph, had been a member of Cid's crew years before. "So, Captain, do you recommend the hot spring as a new health spa hotspot?" He grinned broadly.

"Providing you don't mind drying and dressing in thirty five seconds before you freeze to death, it has my full recommendation," Cid joked back. He settled on a box next to the man. "How's the career change treating you?"

Vincent took a seat near the front, looking out over the camp; amiably talking if spoken to, he listened to the chat of the others until everyone turned in. Cid approached him. "Looks like we're sharing. I'm turning in, so I'll see you in the morning."

Vincent nodded and watched Cid disappear into the tent. He jumped up the rocks to a high vantage point and looked out to the horizon, lost in his own thoughts. Cid, before turning in, poked his head out of the tent, saw Vincent and shook his head gently. Laying in the dark, staring into nothingness, he wondered just how much Vincent had moved on. Chaos had gone and Vincent, in his own way, was lighter in his moods, but…he's thoughts became incoherent and jumbled as he fell asleep.

He awoke early in the morning and looked over to Vincent's sleeping bag; it looked untouched. Cid rose and prepared to face the cold outside. It was still dull outside, the light of a sun not yet fully risen. Cid walked among the other tents. "Come on you lot, time's a wastin'!" Movement could be heard coming from within the tents as the rest of the team stirred.

A few minutes later, as the kettle went on and tea was being passed around, Vincent returned to the camp. Cid didn't ask him where he'd been, wasn't any of his business to ask as far as he was concerned. Still, business or not he had to admit to some curiosity.

He was stood, overseeing two team members cutting through the rock when a small cheer went up. Prising the remaining rock away, the two removed their protective masks and looked triumphant as metal was exposed finally to the weak sunlight.

Cid walked over, removed a glove and ran his hands over the smooth surface, expert fingers feeling for any irregularity that could denote the presence of an access panel. He didn't need to feel for it, his eyes would have found it; it might not have been something he could fly in, but it still could hold the key to his better understanding of his beloved ship. Feeling the cold metal beneath his fingertips was something almost boyish in it's innocent joy, it made it more real.

The rest of the team stood and watched the captain, until one of them decided to cough to distract Cid before his fingers went blue. Cid retrieved his toolkit. "Right, lets see what we've got…"

The large access panel was opened, Cid stuck his head inside and saw nothing. "Someone pass me a friggin' torch," he said waving one hand out behind him. He brought his arm back inside when he felt someone place the torch in his hand. Switching it on, he voiced his initial reaction. "Fucking hell." He turned the power of the torch beam higher. "How far down does this thing go?"

He brought his head back out. "Time to have fun, people. Go to it."

After the obligatory safety drill, the team were all over it like ants inside and out, removing more dirt away from the ground around it, climbing inside and setting up lights and small platforms. Vincent walked over to Cid. "You should see it in there, Vince. It looks similar to the Shera in some ways. Once that lot have set up all they've got to do, I'm gonna have a play about with it before we move on." Cid pulled out his phone. "It's hollow inside, everything that makes it work is in a pillar in the middle. Fuck knows how far it goes down, it's bloody huge." Checking for a signal, he turned to Vincent. "I'm gonna call Reeve. Let him know what's happening. Go take a look at it."

Vincent nodded, but kept clear to keep from getting under foot of the others working there. A few minutes later Cid came back. "Nothing much to tell him yet, but I've done my bit for now. Now I can roll my sleeves up and get stuck in."

Vincent stood there patiently watching with interest as WRO members took readings from the outside, while others and Cid clattered around inside.

"Hot damn, it's a power source?" To the untrained eye, the series pipes, valves and odd gauges here and there, the inside looked to be simple and primitive in design. Cid had learnt long ago that a simplistic design didn't automatically denote a crude design. "Pass me the wrench, the adjustable one in the left side of my tool kit."

Vincent ignored the first one as a rhetorical question, besides, he didn't know the answer. "Is it possible?" he asked passing Cid the wrench. He'd spent enough time in Cid's company over the years to know his way around a tool box.

Cid was half inside the machinery, above other members further inside. "I recognise some of the components as the same as on the Shera. Namely the ones that power the engine. Nearly three years we've been looking at that bloody ship and we're still not much closer to understanding how the damn thing works." He huffed in frustration. "Trying to read that bloody Wutai language with no frame of reference would be easier."

Vincent heard a thud as Cid hit the inside of the machine.

"Fucking piece of metal." Cid worked himself back out of the machinery, lay there on the floor staring up at Vincent. "Sorry. I got a bit pissed there didn't I?" He got to his feet. "I'm just getting frustrated that it doesn't matter how much I look at this stuff I can't figure how it actually fucking works."

"Why not?"

Cid was about to swear again, but then calmed down. There was no point yelling at Vincent for not being an engineer. The man was bright, but he couldn't know everything. "I don't know. That's the problem. I can put it together, I can work out what parts are, and know what they look like, so I can replace and fix parts that don't work. I understand the bits; I don't understand the whole," he sighed. "It's like putting a bloody jigsaw together and ending out with a picture of something you've never seen before that's talking to you in a language only the picture understands."

Vincent looked thoughtful, handed Cid the file he'd been reading and walked over to a nearby rock and sat down. Cid followed him over. "What's this?"

"Shelke has been looking at the files that were recovered over the last few years, and the ones that were recently found in Icicle. The machinery was made by the Cetra. There are records of Professor Gast's that were recovered recently where he documented conversations with the Cetra, Ifalna."

"I figured that much, but is it a fucking instruction manual?" Cid said wearily as he lit a cigarette.

"I doubt it. Read it; you're the rocket scientist, I'm sure you'll work it out." Vincent stood and went to look at the machine himself. He was interested, but knew he had less chance of understanding it than Cid did. Cid had a sharp mind and in his specialist field, there was none finer. Vincent had confidence that Cid, with the help of others would eventually unlock the puzzle the ancient machinery represented. _And I will watch as the world changes again._

Cid noticed the melancholy look that crossed Vincent's face. He'd liked to have taken credit that he knew when his friend was in need of distracting from himself, but in truth, he just looked up at the right time. "Oi, if you've got time to brood, you've got time to help me with this shit."

Vincent was jogged from his reverie, he smiled slightly at Cid. His burdens were less these days, and he was less prone to slipping back into his once perpetual heavy hearted guilt and regret. He appreciated that Cid, when in his company, didn't allow him to at all; he meant well. "The rest of the team is working on this too, there is little I can do for now."

"Then you can come here and let me bounce ideas off you," Cid said.


	5. New information

Vincent put his phone away. "Reeve wants to see us."

"Let's not keep him waiting then," Cid said. "We can leave this lot to get on with their jobs."

Taking their leave, they left the WRO science team to their work and returned to the Shera and from there to WRO headquarters and Reeve.

The flight back was tedious, but less cramped now the WRO team were at the Glacier. Vincent wandered through the nearly empty walkway and onto the bridge. 

Cid stood at the helm, grumbling. He noticed Vincent. "Hell, these flights are gonna get boring. The only good thing is, that with less weight onboard, she'll fly a bit quicker. Not that my baby's slow."

Vincent stood off to one side just behind Cid, leant against the bulkhead and said nothing.

Cid grumbled under his breath about it.

--------------

The WRO building was the same as Vincent remembered it, minus Deepground soldiers. Cid seemed at home enough, but Vincent could never bring himself to be totally comfortable with the sterility of the place. Reeve met them in the main entrance hall of the large building. "It's good to see you, Cid, Vincent," he said greeting them both in turn.

Both nodded. "So, what's up?" Cid asked.

"Come." Reeve gestured in front of him as he started walking towards the lift leading to the higher levels and his office. "I've had a visit from Rufus Shinra."

"Rufus? What does he want?" Vincent asked.

"Information currently. It may change depending on the information he gets."

"I take it he's been asking about the machine we found," Vincent said.

"Yes. He paid me a visit before it was found so he doesn't know what it is, but he's definitely interested to find out."

Cid followed along behind listening to the two men talk. Politics. It wasn't that he had no interest at all, but apart from grumbling his dislike for Rufus, he didn't have much to contribute to the current conversation. He'd filled Reeve in earlier on what they had found, any more information concerning that would be relayed to him through what the rest of the team discovered.

"Did Rufus give any indication as to what he wanted the information for?"

Reeve pressed the button for the lift and turned to Vincent. "No. But he made it quite clear he intends to find out what we've found. Beyond that, I don't believe it is unreasonable to assume he has one thing in mind."

Rebuilding the Shinra Company," Vincent said, echoing Reeve's thoughts.

"Yes. Not long after Deepground was defeated, I spoke to Cloud. During the course of our conversation he'd said that at one point Reno had let slip that it was Rufus' intention."

"Reno? I'm surprised he'd let something like that slip," Vincent said.

Reeve chuckled. "It was always more typical of Elena."

"I wouldn't know. The last time I saw Elena, she was half dead."

"Thanks to you they both made a full recovery, but I fear that will work to our disadvantage now."

"You think I should have left them?" Vincent almost sounded puzzled.

"No, no," Reeve said emphatically. "I meant in terms of them being Turks and in the employ of Rufus. Rufus will use everything at his disposal, including them two. The Turks are loyal to him, well, loyal enough."

Cid decided he'd been quite long enough. "Well, I'm not letting those Shinra dogs get their hands on that equipment."

Both Reeve and Vincent turned to look at him as they entered into Reeve's office. Cid looked almost childishly defiant. "Look, the world's not exactly been better under the WRO, but that's not really been it's fault. Besides, I'm looking out for my own interests. They're not nicking another damn airship off me."

Vincent smiled, though it was deliberately hidden by his cloak collar. Reeve smiled and nodded in understanding. He felt pressure from his position and more than once Shelke had commented in her factual way that the commissioner seemed to be perpetually mildly stressed. But he could do a lot more for the people, especially the citizens of Midgar; from where he was, he could help them rebuild their city, their homes. He had concerns of Rufus taking over and serving his own ends. Despite the changes over the years, he still believed Rufus capable of this.

They sat down at the table. "The only thing we can do right now is watch to see what Rufus does next, if anything," Reeve said. "Due to his obvious financial involvement in the WRO, if he really wants to get involved in what's happening, I'm not really sure there is much anyone can do about it."

"Not meaning to be rude, but what exactly does this have to do with us?" Vincent asked, not entirely sure where Reeve was leading with all this. "This is politics, it's not something I get involved in."

Though he was in agreement with Vincent's statement, Cid couldn't resist. "Vince, you wouldn't get involved in anything unless we dragged your ass along." Giving no room for any possible comebacks, he turned to Reeve. "He's got a point though, our part's done and dusted."

"I need your help. Shelke can give you more information on the technical side, but ideally, I need your help with any possible problems whilst I try to deal with Rufus."

"She is here?" Vincent asked slowly. Shelke always brought out mixed feelings in him.

"Yes, she's where you'll usually find her. She spends time sorting through data for me, when she's not catching up on normal things for a girl of her age."

"She's a grown woman of twenty." Vincent pointed out. "Just one that can not age and will die without mako."

Reeve just nodded. He was well aware of Shelke's age. He didn't feel the need to reply to Vincent's statement of something so obvious, they had spoke before on Shelke before. Shelke was one of the few things in the world that Vincent had feelings for and would speak up about at odd times.

Cid, having watched the exchange, brought matters back on track. "So, am I straight in thinking you want us as some kind of bodyguard for the power generator?"

"Yes, and no," Reeve said. "Of course we have enough of our own soldiers that we can get to guard the power generator, but we believe there are more of them. I trust you both more to find them and oversee the protection of the sites."

"I'm going to talk to Shelke." Vincent stood and left the room.

Cid and Reeve looked at each other. "You know, I value Vince's friendship greatly, but he's still a weird bastard sometimes," Cid said looking toward the door.

Vincent followed the corridors leading to the computer lab that Shelke occupied when she was here. He stepped through as the door opened with a gentle hiss, alerting her to his presence. "Commissio…Vincent." She corrected as she saw who had entered the room.

"You are well?" Vincent asked

"Yes, and you?"

Both had grown comfortable in the strange formality that existed between them. Both were aware of the connection between them from Lucrecia and the similarities they bore. Shelke, like Vincent, did not age.

"I've been fine. Reeve says you have some information."

"Yes. I've been tracking information on the World Network, trying to piece together any information I could find in reference to the power generator. I've been mostly unsuccessful. But I did find a small reference to an unknown power source from many years before mako was discovered. The data was one line, found within Lucrecia's study of Chaos and the Chronicles of Yore. There is a possibility that there is more of them."

"Is it likely?"

"The team keep sending in new information in regularly. Give us a few days and we should have enough to tell us if it is probable." Shelke looked at the ground. "Vincent?"

"Yes?"

"Lucrecia's data fragments. I…I am confused. No, it's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Shelke, what is it?" He had a feeling, this conversation with her was a long time coming.

Shelke looked uncomfortable. "My…Lucrecia's feelings for you. I know they are not my own, but…." she trailed off, unsure how to voice her jumbled thoughts.

Vincent stood a little nearer to her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "I know, but these are not your feelings. I know it is difficult. I have to remember that Lucrecia and you are two separate people."

"Do you care for me, Vincent?" Her voice regained its usual steady tone.

Unsure of what it was Shelke really meant by the question, he took the honest approach in answering her. "Yes. How much of my feelings are a result of your connection to Lucrecia, I couldn't say." He fell silent.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "We are alike, Vincent Valentine. I believe in each other we find a 'kindred spirit'. A friendship based on understanding."

He smiled at her. He had worried that Shelke, in her inexperience and subsequent return to humanity, may have confused Lucrecia's feelings with her own. It was the presence of the data fragments that had initially influenced Shelke's actions with them during the fight with Deepground. But to his relief, she kept a level head even when she did suffer from confusion at times. She was right, he did feel about her that way, as a friend and kindred spirit; he worried about her, thought about others conduct with her. He had come to the conclusion that maybe this was as close to becoming a father as he would ever experience. No, she wasn't a child, but he wasn't the twenty seven year old man he appeared to be either. They were a strange family, but a family no less.

They spoke for a while longer until they were interrupted by Cid and Reeve joining them. "I've set up some quarters for you both until we have any more news on what to do next." Reeve said. "Besides, I'm sure you and Shelke have much to talk about." It was a subtle reference that didn't go unnoticed. Though Vincent was around civilisation more than he used to, he still tended to disappear off for weeks at a time.

Vincent and Cid headed back further into the part of the building that housed the temporary sleeping quarters. "There's a lot going on, looks like we're sharing yet again," Cid said. "Hope you're not bored of my company."

Reaching the room, which was small and Spartan with a bunk built into the side, Cid dumped down a bag and made his excuses, claiming if he didn't phone her soon, Shera was going to 'hand him his ass'. Alone, Vincent lay on the top bunk, lost in thought. He didn't begrudge Reeve asking for help, it gave him a reason to spend time in Cid's company, which he enjoyed. The man was rough, swore too much even when he was swearing less and he smoked like a chimney. But he was down to earth and intelligent. Vincent admired that in him. He closed his eyes and again the darkness brought little comfort as his mind wandered to less pleasant thoughts.

Vincent opened his eyes as he heard the door latch click as Cid returned. Vincent jumped down from the bunk, taking the proffered cup of tea. He took Cid's too and placed it on the small table so that Cid could close the door unencumbered.

"Shelke okay?"

"Yes, Shelke's alright. She seems to be happy enough here," Vincent replied.

"Good to hear."

"She's concerned about her feelings for me. I can understand, because of Lucrecia's data fragments. To be honest, I'm not sure if they really remained, or if she's experiencing remembered feelings."

"Have you considered they might actually be her feelings?"

Vincent looked at Cid sharply in surprise. "Do you think that might be the case?"

"Why not? She only looks like a ten year old, but as you said yourself, she's a woman of nearly twenty one. I'm more concerned about your feelings for her."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, Vince. I've nothing against the girl. It's bloody great you have someone you care about. I just want you to be sure you know why you care about her. You owe it to her to care about her for who she is, not the memories and information she has stored in her head." He paused, seeing the look in Vincent's eyes and decided to go for broke. "She's not Lucrecia." He said softly.

"I'm aware of that, Cid."

They sat in silence, the steam from the tea invaded his nostrils, reminding Cid of its presence. As he drank, Vincent sighed and spoke again.

"She said she was sorry." Vincent said as he stared into the tea in front of him, looking almost as if all his answers would be there if only he could look hard enough.

Cid said nothing. He took a swig of his tea and waited to see if Vincent would continue.

"She enclosed herself in that mako to escape. She needed to escape from her own guilt." He swallowed a mouthful of his own tea, not because he wanted it, but it gave him a much needed second to compose himself to continue talking. "I knew, because I read the file after she ran off. I knew she was there when my father died, that he died protecting her. But I never blamed her."

Vincent 's voice was quiet as he spoke, so Cid felt he had to strain to hear the words clearly.

Vincent raised his eyes from the cup to look at Cid. "Once I knew, she felt she couldn't face me. The guilt she bore for feeling responsible for my father's death was too much. That's when she gave herself to Hojo."

Cid didn't know what to say, but felt he should say something. "Shit, Vince, I'm sorry. I never knew."

"Why should you? I've never spoken of it." Vincent sat back in his chair and sighed. "I wanted to tell her I never thought she was at fault. But, after Hojo, it was difficult to talk to her. Then…well, you know the rest."

Vincent rose from his seat and walked over to the small window. He stared out at the horizon. "Cloud once asked me if sins could be forgiven. My answer to him was that I'd never tried."

"Then maybe you should try?" Cid replied. "As you said, you'd never blamed Lucrecia. What makes you so sure you are any more to blame than she is? Beating yourself up over her decisions, right or wrong, probably isn't what she'd want." The silence weighed heavy, then Cid spoke again in an attempt to lighten the mood again. "Would it be so surprising that she's attracted to you?"

"Shelke?"

"Come on, you're a good looking guy. No reason she wouldn't."

Vincent smiled. "That's what concerns me. I care for her, but more like a daughter. I admit there are things that remind me of Lucrecia, but occasional mixed feelings does not confuse me to what is real."

"Glad to hear it. In that case, there's a bar down the road, I say we go get a cold one." Any concerns Cid had for Vincent were alleviated, certainly in terms of Shelke. He just wished Lucrecia wasn't as large a shadow over Vincent's life as she still was.

Cid was becoming impatient. Two days they had sat in the WRO headquarters and he was starting to feel cooped up and bored. He was stood on the bridge of the Shera waiting. He heard the door to the bridge open. "Goddamnit man, my engines are getting cold waiting for you."

"Shelke wanted to talk to me before I left. Reeve also had a last few bits of information to pass on as well," Vincent said as he walked around to where Cid was standing.

"So, where to next?" Cid asked.

Vincent unfolded a map. "With the extra information the team have sent through to Reeve, and the information Shelke could find, they think there could be another four or five of these power generators. In theory, with others, it could be a global source of power."

"That's if it ever bloody works. That machinery's not new and it's currently dead as a doornail."

"The next place to look is south of Wutai. Based on what they have worked out in terms of the generators range, the next one should be found somewhere in the region of the old materia cave.

"Damn it. There's nowhere round there to land a damn airship," Cid complained.

Vincent sighed. Sometimes he wondered how Shera lived with him. "We can land to the north, near Wutai and travel from there."

"That's miles on foot. We're going to need something to get us there quicker."

"Will the buggy make it?"

Cid took a cigarette from the pack and shook his head as he lit a match. "Too many bloody mountains. We need to pay Ester a visit."

At Cid's command the Shera took off and headed east.

The first noticeable thing as they disembarked was the smell that assaulted their noses, the breeze brought the distinct smell of ammonia from the corner of the yard as a farm hand overturned an old pile of used straw. The second was the distinct smell of chocobo, to which the only word that came to mind was _pervasive. _ It got everywhere. Cloud had once commented, when telling him about the desert prison, that the smell of chocobo could still be faintly smelt in his clothes weeks later. Cid had always thought it strange that, considering what was going on a the time, he actually noticed. Strange boy that one.

Vincent observed that the Chocobo farm had expanded quiet a bit since he'd last seen it. He entered the main stable with Cid.

"Hey, Bill?" Cid called into the barn, startling a few chocobos.

A young man stuck his head round from the alcove he was working in. "Mr Highwind? I was told by Ester to expect you."

Vincent looked at Cid. "You phoned?"

Cid smiled. "Course, that's what we have them for."

Vincent slightly rolled his eyes. Enough to let Cid know the jibe wasn't unnoticed. "I'll wait outside," he said. Leaving Cid to procure some chocobos, he walked from the barn and found himself wandering near the building that housed the farm hands living quarters and a very small bed and breakfast for the few travellers that stopped by.

"Do I recognise you, Sonny?"

Vincent turned to see an old man, possibly Billie's father; he couldn't recall, standing there."

"Unlikely."

"Hmm, I swore I'd seen ya before." He nodded and turned into the house.

Heading back to the airship, he watched as a farmhand was helping one of Cid's crew load two chocobos onboard. Walking over, he stood beside Cid.

Cid turned. "No point being a Captain if you never delegate." At Vincent's continued silence, he continued. "Come on, lets get back, we've got another stop yet."

They returned to The Shera, Vincent wondering if Cid meant the Wutaian continent, or another one added to an itinerary Vincent didn't know about.

Vincent was given quarters as the journey to Wutai was a much longer run than the one to Icicle. He wandered for a while then retired to his room realising he missed the deck of the Highwind. The observation panels on the bridge just wasn't the same as being out in the night air. Cid had already left another crew member at the helm and was shut away in his quarters working on something before he turned in for the night. Not that Vincent particularly wanted the Captain's company. He wasn't sure what he wanted, but it wasn't company. He sat in the darkened room, the only light came from a small nightlight at floor level to one side. The soft faint glow was more than enough for him to see by as he stared into the middle distance, lost in thought.

Vincent had once told Cid that he was a monster. He'd be a little taken aback when Cid had replied in fewer words that this was quite true. Having seen 'The Walking Carpet'; as he called the Galian Beast, in action, monster was a good as any word to describe him.

The group had been attacked by an opportunist group of Nibel Wolves, the pack had been larger than usual making them harder work to take down. Barret had been injured and the wolves had managed to get between the members of the group, separating them for an easier kill. Until Vincent snapped. It was the first time they had seen him transform.

Once Barret's wounds were tended they all took the opportunity to rest. Cid wandered towards Vincent, who had put some distance between himself and the others. "The walking carpet's quite impressive," Cid said.

Vincent looked away, a contemptuous edge to his reply. "It is a monster. It's who I am."

Cid wasn't biting, he knew just where the contempt was aimed and sat on a fallen log near Vincent, but still far enough away to give the man some space. "Yeah, and Yuffie's an irritating brat. I can tolerate her company too." With that he stood again and wandered back to the main group.

Vincent watched his back as he walked away and just knew Cid had smugly noticed the barely perceptible widening of Vincent's eyes and that he understood.

Over time since then, Vincent had come to terms with himself as he much as he thought he ever would. He had learnt to understand those entities that shared his body, all except Chaos. But Chaos was now gone, and Vincent didn't miss the Weapon's presence. Galian Beast had evolved over time and Hellmasker and Death Gigas had been quiet for a long time and seemed to be content to do so. It had been long enough and Vincent was no weak minded fool. It had taken time, but who was now in charge was undisputed.

He rose from the bed he was sat on and wandered the dimmed corridors, getting nothing more than a few brief inquisitive looks from the crew on nightshift. He walked into a room that had been set aside for recreation and looked over to the window at the far side. Cid turned round from looking at the stars. "You can't sleep either?"

"I don't sleep."

"Explains why you're so pale all the time," Cid shrugged and went back to looking at the stars.

Vincent stood off to one side.

After a few minutes, Cid smiled before he turned to face Vincent. "Well, if you're going to be lousy company, I might as well get some shut-eye." He yawned. "See ya in the morning." With that he left the room.

Despite his statement, which he knew Cid didn't take literally, Vincent had returned to his room and slept for a short while. It was dawn when he awoke having noticed the lull in the ships engines. Looking out of the small window, he didn't recognise the area of Wutai they were until he realised they weren't on the Wutain continent at all and they were in fact, just outside Rocket Town.


	6. East Wutai

"The WRO is a military organisation, Reeve. They are no different from SOLDIER," Rufus said.

Reeve paced the room, deciding the best answer to give, and exactly where Rufus was leading this conversation to. "The WRO needed to be more military in light of the Deepground situation. We do what we must to keep the people safe, but we are a long way from SOLDIER."

"The people are now safe." Rufus paused for a breath and then smiled. "Why do you then, still carry guns?"

Was he being tested? Given past conduct when in a position of power, Reeve thought if anything, the man sitting casually here in his office with Rude standing obediently to one side of him, had far more reason to be questioned. Pushing to one side his momentary confusion, he replied to Rufus' question. "The soldiers within the WRO are only a small part of the organisation, Rufus. We have specialists in many fields either working or volunteering for us."

Still with the same serene smile that had unnerved many opponents; both political and personal, Rufus made one last attempt to disarm his opponent. "Excellent. I like to know my money is being spent well."

"We do the best we can," Reeve said, confident he hadn't missed a beat. If Rufus was disappointed that his sudden admission hadn't made Reeve stumble, then he didn't show it.

"I had Elena looking into why that Dual Horn turned up. As you raised concerns, I decided it warranted following up."

"And did your investigation show anything."

"Indeed it did. A lead one of your men kindly gave us was followed. It would seem our interrogation methods are a little different from yours; but either way, it brought up some very interesting information. I presume you've heard of the group VEHGA?"

"Yes, I believe they are the group that have similar goals to the old AVALANCH." Reeve nodded. He had heard of the group, but as a new organisation there was little known about them.

"They feel they fight for the planet, but the similarity ends there. The name stands for The Voluntary Extinction of Humans on Gaia Association. They are a group that believe in mass voluntary extinction of all life on Gaia for the sake of the planet. For the most part, the group are a bunch of peaceable idiots that hold strong beliefs, but it is no more than a religion to them. But there are a few that take it further," Rufus explained.

"I see. I take it that the few individuals that are the problem are more finding a cause to fight rather than true believers. I get the impression this is just another bandwagon for them to jump on."

"Most likely, otherwise they would need to drop the 'Voluntary' should they start killing people."

"I take it this group has something to do with the incident," Reeve said, bringing the conversation back on track.

"It does. It was the extremists that loosed the Dual Horn into Midgar. I think you'll find they are responsible for all the other minor set backs you've been having. It would seem they are small in number, but it shows that with every success their confidence grows." Rufus gestured towards the door with a finger, Rude nodded and left. Rufus continued speaking. "That they are small in number is of little significance, some of the greatest threats Shinra has faced has come from small groups."

Reeve smiled inwardly at the reference to AVALANCH and his own involvement with the group. "So now we know there is a threat, we should act."

"At the moment, I would suggest proceeding slowly. Give them enough rope to hang themselves with," Rufus said smiling at the prospect.

"I agree." Reeve's brow furrowed slightly as the followed the thought through to its natural conclusion. "But my concern is for the workers and residents, not acting now could cause more casualties."

"This is true, so I suggest we work together on this one. You keep the people safe as best as possible, discreetly so as not to raise an alarm among the people or any suspicion. I will find someone to infiltrate the group and act from the inside. We'll give them something really big to go for."

"How big are we talking?"

"We need something of enormous importance." Rufus smiled. Again.

Reeve sighed. Rufus was determined to find out what Reeve knew, and this fringe group had given Rufus the perfect opening. The only thing left for Reeve to do, was confirm everything Rufus had said to be true and decide how much to actually tell him.

-------------------

The kitchen in Cid's house hadn't changed with the exception the Shera had given it a new lick of paint to brighten it up. It was cosy and inviting, not that Vincent took much notice other than to decline the offer of tea. He sat there quietly feeling like an intruder as Cid and Shera argued.

"Reeve needs some help, and I'm going."

"Goddamit woman, I need you to take care of things here."

Shera sighed noisily, rolling her eyes. Her voice calmed. "Cid, I'm an engineer. Reeve _needs_ an engineer. He didn't ask for me specifically, but I offered as I have experience with the technology he's dealing with. You didn't rebuild that airship on your own."

Cid knew when he was defeated. Shera wanted to do something and he'd learnt from experience she would stubbornly persevere until it got done. "Fine, but make sure the Tiny Bronco is up and running before you leave."

"It's already done." She smiled. "Do you think I spend my time around this place moping and waiting for you to come home?"

Cid huffed. "Come on, Vince. We got other things to be doin'." As he stood in the doorway, he looked over his shoulder at Shera. "And don't forget to take a coat, its cold this time of year there." With that he followed Vincent through the door.

"It's cold there all times of year, numbskull." Shera called out after him in an affectionate tone. She heard Cid laugh.

Walking to the airship just past the outskirts of the small town, Cid smiled. "Shera called yesterday to tell me she was planning on going to Icicle to meet with some of the team there then work on the power generator in Great Glacier. I told her what I thought of her working with the WRO, she hung up on me."

"Reeve will appreciate her help," Vincent said.

"That's what worries me. She's a damn good engineer, the finest I've got. Nothing against Reeve, but I've no intention of losing my best to him." He lit a cigarette. "The fact she's my wife and I can still come home to her every night's got nothing to do with it."

Vincent knew he didn't need to point out that Cid worked for the WRO and so, by default, so did Shera. Cid acknowledged that it was down to Reeve he had his ship and work, but he still saw himself more of an independent offshoot from the WRO, he just didn't mind when Reeve asked him favours.

Back onboard the Shera, Cid pointed out their destination on the map. "There's a small peninsula just to the west of the old materia cave, I'll park my girl near there then we'll have to scout the area on Chocobo."

"I thought we were going to land near Wutai."

"Yeah, then I remembered the plain to the south of Wutai, then we can cross the bridge to the peninsula."

Vincent nodded. "That makes more sense."

"It's also further away from Yuffie." Cid grimaced at the thought of her. Cid liked the girl really, but only in short doses and provided she didn't talk too much. Or vomit over his airship for that matter as well.

Vincent didn't say anything in reply. While he and Yuffie weren't exactly close, she had saved his life on more than one occasion. Irritating as she could be, she was still a valuable comrade, but he still understood Cid's sentiments.

When they arrived on the Wutain continent and had unloaded the chocobos, they set out from the grassy plain toward the bridge that led to the mountainous region. Even on the chocobos the journey took many hours, that Cid's bird was slowed by the cart it was pulling that contained provisions for at least three days didn't help. They managed to avoid any monsters on route, which was another benefit of travelling by chocobo. No one could explain why monsters didn't attack chocobos; Cid thought it was the smell.

Arriving at the bridge, they tethered the chocobos and rested for a while. Cid looked out over the expanse that was the first Wutai Bridge. "You know, on first glance, the bridge is quite primitive in design," he said to Vincent as he admired the handiwork. "But when you know a thing or two about engineering, you realise what an enormous feat it was to make it. And that it's been standing for so long."

Vincent smiled. Cid's eyes lit up like a kid in a sweet shop when he talked about technology. Nothing more so than airships and space travel, but good engineering of any kind came close. "Shall I leave you two alone?"

Cid laughed. "Well, if everyone's rested enough, we should get a move on."

To the west of the cave, they set up camp and searched along the base of the mountain. On the second day they extended their search further up the mountain as far as they could safely get. Returning to the camp after their latest search, Cid lit up the remains of his last cigarette, the night was drawing in so he lit the small portable lamp. "Another goddamn day and still nothing." Cid complained as he pulled his boots off and rubbed his aching feet.

"Maybe tomorrow will yield something." Vincent said as he pulled out a file of papers and began to read.

"It bloody better. As much as I don't tire of your company, Vince, I'm fed up of the heat and dust of this place; and I can't get a damn signal to talk to Shera." He lay back heavily onto his sleeping bag realising that it was quite true. Despite the number of days they had now spent almost continuously in each others company, it wasn't starting to feel tedious. If anything, he found he wished Vincent would talk more. Turning onto his side he looked at Vincent. "What's that, anything good?"

"It's quite interesting."

Cid grinned at Vincent's typical lack of response. "So. You gonna tell me or do I have to guess?"

"Monsters. It has little relevance to what we're looking for, but Reeve gave me a copy of Professor Gast's theories on Jenova, after his resignation from the JENOVA project."

"What'd he do that for?"

"He thought I might want to take a look. Gast had some interesting theories," Vincent said.

"About Jenova?"

"About Jenova's effect to shape the flora and fauna of the planet. He learnt that Jenova had infected the Cetra with a virus. This turned them into monsters, as was testified to in that recording we saw in Icicle. A lot of monsters are just naturally evolved fauna, but if you look at some of the world's monsters, they don't follow standard patterns. Some people have been studying them for years because of their unusual traits."

Cid lay on his back, staring at the ceiling of the tent. "Understandable. I always thought those Hell Houses in Midgar were too weird even for a monster."

Vincent smiled. "I remember my first run in with one of those. I didn't come out too well."

Cid laughed. "Picturing you struggling against something that weak…" he paused and shook his head. "Nah, still can't see it."

The report put to one side, Cid reminisced about his first encounter with a Hell House in Midgar, which prompted Vincent to return in kind.

Cid awoke the following morning to more heat and dust, and as expected, no Vincent. He grouched as he as he reached for his cigarette packet and remembered it was empty. Finding an emergency packet of cigarette papers, he found some old dog ends on the floor outside the tent and removed the remaining tobacco in them, hoping he had enough to make one reasonable cigarette. "If you even think about sayin' anything, don't bother," he said as Vincent's shadow cast over him. He looked up to see him standing there, quite expressionless.

"What you feel you must do to feed your habit is your own business," He said simply and entered the tent to retrieve some equipment for the days search.

Cid ducked his head back in. "Sorry. It's a habit. Shera moans at me for doing this." He rolled the tobacco in the paper and looked satisfied with it.

That Cid was giving him automatic responses he would normally say to his wife, Vincent found strangely amusing, so he decided that to say nothing in response would probably be the better option. "If we find nothing today, we should return to the airship before nightfall."

"I'm a hundred percent with you on that. I think I've a packet stashed onboard somewhere."

Vincent took his equipment outside, sat down and took his gun out of its holster. Then with meticulous precision took the weapon apart, cleaned the dust out of it and put it back together. It had taken a while to learn, and even though it could be removed, it suited Vincent to become quite dexterous at everything with his claw, including the care of his gun.

Cid, having emerged from the tent a short while previously, was cleaning the dust out of some of the more delicate and temperamental equipment - the kettle.

Both men sat in comfortable silence until they were ready to set out.


	7. The WRO need you

Any feedback on this would be appreciated as I'm not happy with this chapter as I got stuck on it for a long while. There is a bit of a change in the way dialogue is written, I apologise in advance for that, but the earlier chapters were edited and some changes made this reflects that. There is no change in the storyline, but I will update earlier chapters at some point so it should read a little smoother.

Reeve had received Rufus in his office, as was seeming to become normal routine for both men now. So far, negotiations has been fraught and Reeve has managed to keep quiet about the power generator, but knew he couldn't for much longer, that was if Rufus was still uninformed to its existence. He highly doubted that; the Turks were efficient.

"I'm sure you can see why it would be beneficial to cooperate in this."

Reeve did see it, for the moment. He just didn't know where it would lead. "You say Reno is unknown to the group?"

"Elena and Tseng are the only ones any have come into contact with. But they've all spent the last few years keeping a low profile"

Reeve sighed, he didn't mention that some of them might well have been in Edge when Kadaj and the other two had turned up. They'd just have to hope any of them there had been too busy saving their own necks to notice Reno's bright red hair in the midst of the fighting. "I'm not happy with this, Rufus. But I'll agree to it providing one of my people go with him."

"Two people undercover is more risky than one," Rufus said.

"I'm aware of that. But as one of my finest intelligence agents, I have full confidence in her ability." Reeve gave a smile. "She'll get the job done."

"So, they are to infiltrate the group, then attempt to persuade the group to make an attack on as big a target as possible to lure them out."

"You make it sound so easy," Reeve said dubiously.

Rufus laughed softly. "Simple, but not easy. This will take time, and a lot of planning. We must move carefully from now on."

Reeve looked thoughtful. "We need to establish what it is this group are really hoping to achieve, if anything."

"Their motivations mean little to me. They're presenting a threat to the rebuilding of our world, that is enough to warrant dealing with them."

Reeve looked slightly askance at him. "It was that mentality that put the world where it is. Understanding the motivations of these people will help to deal with any potential future problems."

"They are little more than petty thugs jumping on the bandwagon of an idea. But we shall agree to disagree," Rufus said amicably. "The deal is, what do we use to draw them out?"

Reeve pushed the intercom button and asked the voice on the other end to join them. He turned back to Rufus. "I'll see what I can do."

As Yuffie stepped into the WRO entrance hall, she swore she saw the familiar white of a long coat disappear round the corner of the exit opposite. She crossed the hall, following the stairs up to Reeve's office. Entering Reeve's office she was greeted by Cait Sith. "The Commissioner has some work for ya."

Yuffie huffed as she walked further into the room still looking at Cait. "It'd better be more interesting, the last one was really boring." She stretched out the last word to emphasise just how boring she had found it.

"I know. Ya wouldn't shut up about it fer days."

"I'm just saying I hope it's more interesting than last time, geez." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you'll find this one more of a challenge." The voice came from the far side.

Yuffie nearly jumped. "Reeve! I didn't see you there!"

Reeve turned from the large screen he was looking at to face Yuffie. "Thank you for coming."

"Hey, no problem. Yuffie always gets the job done!" She tugged at Cait's ear playfully, for the automaton just to bat her away and groan at her posturing.

Reeve smiled. Yuffie, I need for you to be serious for a moment. What I need to ask you is of great importance.

Yuffie rocked on the balls of her feet, swaying back and forth. "Hey, you need something done? I'm your ninja!" She poked her tongue out playfully at Cait as he left the room. and turned her attention back to Reeve.

"Rufus is sending Reno on a spy mission to infiltrate the group VEHGA, I would like you to go with him." Reeve braced himself for the verbal outburst he knew was coming. Yuffie didn't disappoint.

"No way! I'm not working with that guy. You know he had the cheek to try and hit on me? On me?! I don't know who he thinks he is but if he thinks I'm going to help him, or any one else to do with that idiot of a boss of his. and I..."

"I know how you feel about Shinra, Yuffie." Reeve said, his voice firm and slightly louder to cut her off. "I know Shinra have been questionable in the past and no one has more right to still be angry at them than you and your people. I'm aware of what they have cost you." He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her. "But Rufus has been aiding the WRO since our formation. Whilst I don't believe he's entirely trustworthy, I don't believe he is the person he was then either."

Yuffie gently huffed, not convinced.

"We all make mistakes. You didn't trust me once." Reeve tried once more to appeal to her sense of forgiveness, which he knew was hard to shake at times. He moved back a little, almost imploring her to help. He wasn't sure if he was feeling entirely sure about allowing Rufus in on the discovery of the power generator. If Rufus was sincere in his dealings with the WRO, then maybe Reeve's faith in his own judgement would remain steady.

Yuffie looked at Reeve's face, almost rude in her scrutiny. The lines around his eyes looked deeper than usual. "You okay?"

Reeve rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes, I'm fine." He walked over to the console, reading a message that had just come through. " It's just been a rough few months."

"Maybe this power generator will be the answer. Barret'll be relieved to have some of the pressure taken off of him."

Reeve smiled. "You know the problem then?"

Yuffie looked awkward. "Um..yeah, I kinda...heard about the power problem."

Reeve positively chuckled. "This is why I need you, Yuffie. You're the finest intelligence officer I have." He handed her a small electronic pad. I've been over some details with Rufus, so here's a run down of everything so far, to bring you up to date."

"You know I still haven't said I'd do it."

"How did you know about the power crisis we are facing, Yuffie?"

Yuffie grinned trying to look as innocent as possible. "Okay, okay. I'll do it. But I'm telling you now, I'm not happy."

Reeve nearly audibly sighed in relief. "Thank you, Yuffie."

Yuffie skimmed the pad in her hand. "Hey, Reeve?"

"What is it, Yuffie?"

"Come on, this gang's tiny. They can't be so important to need to go to this much trouble. I mean, Avalanche were trying to blow up the reactors and Shinra didn't do this much."

Reeve did sigh this time. "Yes we did. Reno dropped the Sector Seven plate and killed a lot of people, and Shinra did plant a spy. Me."

"Yeah, I forgot you spied for Shinra. Seems like a long time ago." She looked serious for a moment. "Well, I know about the plate. But they'd already blown up a reactor at that point. I mean, what have these guys done?"

"They nearly killed people, Yuffie. At what point do you think we should do something?"

Yuffie flapped her arms, backtracking. "No, no, no. I didn't say we should do nothing. I was just wondering if this was, like, overkill?"

Reeve smiled slightly, softening a little. "Maybe it is. It's possible that Rufus is using this to lead me a merry dance. We shall see. But in the meantime, I'm prepared to accept that Rufus may have a very valid reason for believing this splinter group present a threat to the stability and safety of Midgar Edge residents, because if I'm wrong, they're the ones that suffer for it."

---------------------------

The ground was baked hard under the midday sun. Cid's t-shirt was drenched as he scrabbled up the rocks, detector between his teeth. He watched Vincent and felt a twinge of envy. Vincent; slightly further ahead of him and crossing the terrain with ease, was showing no sign of the heat despite wearing his customary leather and red cloak.

Cid's phone rang. He stopped and pulled it awkwardly from a pocket and tucked it under his chin to free both hands. He answered with a slight grunt as a large stone loosed from just above him by Vincent, hit his shin on it's fall down the slope. "Ah, shit!" he cursed. "Oh, sorry, Reeve. I'm just gonna kill Vince later. What is it?"

Vincent stopped and looked down at Cid behind him on the slope at the mention of his name to see Cid grin and gesture for him to return.

"I've spoken to Rufus," Reeve's voice came, distant sounding through the speaker. "It seems there is a new faction behind some of the incidents in Midgar. Rufus and I are working together to find the culprits, we were thinking of giving them a large target to give them."

Cid looked troubled. "How big a target are we talking?"

"Power generator sized." Came Reeve's instant reply.

Cid looked even more troubled. "Who the hell is this group anyway?"

"VEHGA. The Voluntary Extinction of Humans on Gaia Association."

The troubled look disappeared as Cid laughed. "What kind of fucking stupid name is that? You're kidding right?"

Reeve was glad that the phone didn't have video capabilities. "Unfortunately, no. The main group is more of a movement than anything, but it's a splinter group that is the cause of the disruptions," he paused almost like he was uncertain whether to continue. "I've sent Yuffie along with Reno to investigate."

"Just when I thought I'd seen everything." Cid shook his head. "So why the power generator?"

"We need a sizable target that we can draw them out to as a whole group."

Cid didn't like the sound of that. "I don't think that's a good idea, Reeve, I…"

Reeve cut him off. "I know you're thinking of Shera and the others. That's why I called. To ask if you'd found the possibility of another one yet."

Cid sighed in frustration. "No, nothing yet. We were just finishing a final sweep of the area then going to fly the Shera over a bit further west, look at the land and see if we get anything there."

"Ah, that's not what I was hoping to hear. I was hoping if another one was found, we could leak information on that, leaving the one at Glacier untouched."

"We'll keep looking, I'll call you when I've got something."

"Just don't take too long." Came the reply. The phone disconnected and Cid related what had transpired to Vincent.

Vincent nodded slightly. "I've heard of this group. They have a base in the forest near Mideel, I believe they feel it's symbolic."

"Symbolic?"

"Mideel no longer exists because of the lifestream. It's the symbol of life returning to the planet, as they wish to do when their time comes."

"Bunch of crack pots if you ask me."

Vincent looked at the sky. "I don't agree with their philosophy entirely, but they do make sense."

They both sat on the rocky slope taking Reeve's call as a good opportunity to rest. After a few minutes, Cid spoke. "I say we return to the Shera, head over west a little more and see if the lay of the land can't tell us anything."

"Do we have a geologist onboard?"

"Shit. Why didn't I think of that?"

Vincent could've given Cid half a dozen answers to that question. He rose to his feet. "If we head back now, we should be back to the Shera by nightfall as originally planned. We can cover the area in the morning." He headed back down the slope towards the camp and the chocobos.

Cid looked after him. "That's what I just said." He shook his head and followed.

-------------------------

The return journey back to the Shera had been about as eventful as the one from it. Cid stood on the bridge barking orders. Once they were up in the air, Cid sent a crew member to ask around . His crew were for the most part a well educated lot, he hoped one among them would know something about geology.

The search had not proved fruitless, but less successful than he'd hoped. Ana spent most of her time in the bowels of the ship, suiting her quiet nature. As much as she admired her captain, being questioned by him was a little intimidating. She stood on the upper deck feeling self-conscious in front of Cid and Vincent. "As I said, sir. I studied a little geology, but I don't think I know enough to be of much help."

"Any help will do, girl. I suppose you studied somethin' about land scarring?"

"I did a little, sir. I spent a few months studying aerial pictures of the Eastern Continent." She really didn't feel that was enough to qualify her to find a proverbial needle in the haystack that was Central Wutai.

"That'll do. It's the best we've got." He turned to Vincent. "Thing is, it's not like findin' the last one. Around Great Glacier there's just not that much room to put somthin' that large, but the Wutain Continent? Looking at how deep the other one goes down, it could be stuck in a mountain, could be fuckin' anywhere."

"Great Glacier is covered in a large amount of forest at one end - Everything we know about the Cetra would tell us that they wouldn't disrupt the area and affect the life there. Large amounts of Glacier is unstable and though there's not much, there is some life there reliant on the environment. That mainly leaves the rocky areas toward the north east." The crewmember looked thoughtful. "You know, sir. There might be something in the idea of it being in a mountain."

"If the power generator were to be placed in a mountain side, especially the more flat cliff faces of Wutai it would make for possible easier access for any reason." Vincent said.

"That could be true, but taking into account the time the generators have supposedly been there, if it were shallow enough for easy access, natural erosion over that time would probably have exposed it, at least in places."

"That's a good point, Ana." Cid's eyes swept the bridge looking at the crew. His gaze turned back to Ana. "Before we do anything, I want you to get together a small team from the crew and sweep the area for possible sites."

"Yes, sir." Ana left the bridge to attend to the task set her.

Cid turned to Vincent. "We aren't going to get very far trying to scan for the generator with the small scanners we've got. I'm going to need to make something a bit more powerful. Which means I need equipment."

"How much do you need?"

"I've got some parts of the ship still in pieces that I can scavenge for some of it, but there're a few things that I can pick up in Nibleheim. There's a good shop there now since one of my lot moved out that way."

"You start work on what you can here and I'll pick up the parts. It will save time."

Cid called to a crew member off to the side. "Oi, Johnny. Get your ass up here." He handed the helm over to the man as he hurriedly came over. "Head for Nibleheim. I've got a lot of work to do."

"Yes, sir!"


	8. The Adamantaimai

The small camp reminded Yuffie of a miniature Cosmo Canyon, just with fewer steps, more trees and more humidity.

The woman they had been greeted by was quite short and didn't look how Yuffie had imagined her. She knew it was stereotypical, but she had expected to see someone more, well, willowy and mystic looking. Even her name, Jula, seemed to be more suited to someone of taller stature. Not that Yuffie had given this a huge amount of thought, as she was still annoyed at Reno for not telling her how he'd got them into the camp to meet with Jula in the first place.

"You look very young to believe in something so life changing." The woman said.

"I may look young, but I'm pretty mature for my age you know." Yuffie said, the tone not complimenting the statement.

Reno groaned silently. He'd always believed Reeve to have been competent at his job, but was starting to change his mind. To him, sending Yuffie undercover was like charging Elena with top class information during her rookie days. "We're goin' to be married, but what with meteor and everything, we decided we didn't wanna have children." He hoped to rescue what credibility they had left.

"Yeah," Yuffie chimed in. "The world's been too crazy."

Jula smiled. "It has been rather unsettling over the last quite a few years. People are responsible for so much damage to the planet. We live simply here, so as not to cause any more other than our simple needs. We have not much to offer and our followers can come and go as they like, but most chose to live here all the time. It's a close friendly community we strive to build." She led them further into the commune.

"Not much opportunity for privacy here is there?" Reno commented as they were led through the jumbled rows of shacks, some built on top of each other.

"We feel it is not needed." Jula replied. "We wish to live as one with the planet, so we use mostly natural materials so all we have used in our time here will degrade and return to the planet also." She smiled at them. "All human behaviour is natural, so we don't feel the need to hide anything we do."

Neither of them missed the meaning. Reno smirked, while Yuffie fought the urge to vomit. "I think I'm gonna like this place." He said then gently elbowed Yuffie and whispered. "Hear that, babe. You can make as much noise as you like and no one will mind."

Yuffie glared at him, which luckily, Jula took to be embarrassment at her future husband being so brazen. They were shown up some rickety stairs to a second level shack, the door ill fitting with gaps at the side. Reno had seen some badly built makeshift homes in the slums, but these probably even beat them. Jula pushed the door open to allow them to step through into a small square room. There was no flooring beyond the bare wood and in the corner there was what was presumably a bed. It looked like a large animal had died on the floor, it didn't smell much better.

Jula gestured to the living space. "There is no need for much else, we all eat together outside. Yuffie, as part of living here you will be expected to help out with the provision of food and cooking." When Yuffie nodded, she continued. "Beyond sleeping and as somewhere to be alone should you require it, there is nothing else you need this room for. But even though we do everything communally, apart from the obvious things, we do respect our individual need for space and you will not be disturbed here. There is no entering of other's rooms without permission."

"Sound's fair to me," Reno said.

"Well, I shall leave you to get settled in, we'll all be meeting to eat just after the torches are lit should you feel hungry and wish to join us."

"Thank you very much." Yuffie smiled. Jula nodded and left.

Yuffie grabbed at the fur covering the bed, wrinkling her nose up at the smell. "What'cha doin' with that?" Reno asked.

"I'm..going..to air.. it out." Yuffie said, struggling with the weight of the large pelt.

"Ahhh, who's gonna make me such a cute little wife then," Reno cooed at her mockingly.

Yuffie dropped the pelt and walked purposefully toward Reno. Stopping right in front of him, she jabbed a finger at his face. "If you think for one minute you're going to spend the time here making my life a living hell, you can think again, mister." She kept her voiced a lowered hiss. "I will hurt you."

Reno laughed. "Nah, I gotta job to do. I'm only gonna make your life hell half the time."

Yuffie stamped on his foot, hoisted the pelt up and shuffled through the door with it to air it out.

Later that evening after members of the commune had been introduced and they'd all eaten, Yuffie and Reno left the large camp and walked into the woods to talk. "Did you notice that Evans guy? I've got a feelin' he's the one to look out for," Reno said.

"What makes you so sure?" Yuffie challenged, deliberately being difficult.

"When you've been in this game as long as I have, _squirt_, you know a thing or two about people."

Yuffie kicked his shin. "Don't call me squirt."

Reno just rolled his eyes and carried on walking.

"So, you gonna tell me how you got us in here then?" Yuffie continued.

"I just met up with one of the people from the commune and we were invited to stay."

"That's all it took!" Yuffie said, incredulous it would be that easy and more at annoyance at Reno for acting previously like he'd done something clever.

He smirked at her. "What'ya think it'd take. It's a bunch of peace lovin' nutjobs that want to join the planet. Security's not high on their list of priorities you know."

Yuffie glared. "How long are we going to be here, any ideas?"

"As long as it takes. I'll try and get in with Evans. You talk to the women, see if any of them know anything, but ..." He paused and looked at her. "try to be subtle about it."

Yuffie was about to retort until she noticed that they were approaching the camp again. She reluctantly took Reno's arm and strolled back to the group they'd left.

It was still not as adequate for the job as he would like, but Cid had fashioned a detector that had a greater range than the smaller hand helds. He'd also set a couple of his crew; gifted engineers both of them, to work on a larger version that could be tied into, and work from the ship. They had flown back over the Wutain continent now further to the west.

A chime let Cid know someone was at his door. The door slid open allowing Vincent to enter the room. "Ana's had a look at the aerial pictures, she's narrowed it down to two possible places."

"That's good. Saves us having to traipse around for weeks for nothing." He put the screwdriver he had in his hand on the workbench. "You heard from that girl of yours?"

"Shelk? She's keeping an eye on things at Reeve's end. With Rufus possibly trying to come to obvious power again, she's concerned about her future."

"Ain't we all. Does Cloud and the others even know anything about all this?" Cid asked.

"I believe not. Reeve probably feels letting them know about Rufus at the moment would be unwise. I'm inclined to agree with him."

"Heh, you're probably right. Too many people are still sore." Cid grabbed the detectors and put them into a backpack. "What about you?"

Vincent looked thoughtful. "I have no love for Shinra, but my need for vengeance died with Hojo. You?"

"Same boat really. Personally, I'm more interested in if the WRO get together a space programme before I'm too damn old to get up there any more. Rufus fucked up my plans once, I'm not exactly happy about the idea that he could do it again."

They left the room, grabbing the maps that Ana had pinpointed the two locations on and left the airship.

They started their search slightly to the south of where the mountain range separated the south from the north of the continent. They used chocobo's to get to the great valley, made camp and scoured the area on foot and on chocobo. The men took it in turns to keep look out while on foot. Though monsters were scarce, the cliff faces still provided nesting grounds for thunderbirds and the bugs in the region were poisonous. More than once Vincent had to fire warning shots at overly curious thunderbirds hoping to get an easy meal.

By the end of the day, though they had not found what they were looking for, they had started to get stronger readings. Cid sat outside the tent lighting up and relaxing. "Well, at least we know that we're not too far from it. Knowin' what direction to go in should make for easy work this time."

Vincent nodded. "Once we've found this one I will return to Edge." He didn't elaborate on why.

Cid was more surprised that Vincent had actually said what he was doing. That there was a lack of explanation was the least unusual thing about it. "Do what you've gotta do."

After Cid had disappeared into the tent, Vincent lay outside looking into the sky. There was no cloud cover making all the stars visible. He stayed and slept outside the tent that night.

A squawk from a distressed chocobo, sickening crunching noises and the tent suddenly being violently swung about did more that wake Cid up. Caught up in shredded tent, contents of which flying everywhere. He couldn't tell which way was up or down, but he didn't really care as trying not to get hurt seemed more important. The tent was shook again, this time enough that Cid could get most of his body free and almost wished he hadn't as a large mouth loomed toward him. Gunshots rang out sparing Cid all but the stench as the adamantaimai roared in anger at the interruption and pain.

"What the hell! I thought those things never left the beach!" Cid yelled, trying to untangle himself from the remains of the tent material as it was dragged along the ground. Vincent in response, jumped to the side of the creature, aiming more shots to distract it to buy Cid time. Cutting through the twisted material from his ankle with a pocket knife, Cid jumped to his feet running to where his spear had been dropped among the tent's wreckage. Running back he leapt onto the adamantaimai's back, driving his spear into the base of its skull. A few shots more from Vincent and it skidded to a halt, collapsing and flinging Cid forward to the ground heavily.

Cid groaned, laying there on his back, the sun directly in his eyes. A shadow blocked the sun from view suddenly. Vincent held out a hand to help the captain up, which he gratefully took. "I'm too old for this shit," he griped as he was hauled to his feet.

Cid looked back at the adamantaimai, it was clearly dying, but not any time immediately. "We should end its suffering." Vincent said quietly next to him.

"If you've got any suggestions, I'm listening. My spear's not going to go through that thick hide enough to make it quick."

Vincent stepped forward, Cid could see a small materia in his hand. The beast shuddered as the lightening spell hit it, slumping fully as the charge dissipated from its body. "Not the most humane means, but the quickest."

There wasn't much to salvage from the mess the adamantaimai had left, and after a search, they managed to find the remaining chocobo.

"I'll have to reimburse Ester for the lost one when we get back," Cid said. "Only problem is, one chocobo can't carry the both of us for long, we've not much in the way of supplies and on foot it's going to take days to get back to the airship as my phone's broken and we've still got this power generator to find."


	9. Cold nights and colder days

"Of all the damn luck!" Cid kicked his tin cup across the dusty floor in frustration. "My phone's knackered, I've got a small bottle of water and we've not much in the way of any field rations." There was no reason to bring much, this was supposed to be a pretty cut and dry expedition. "Well, there ain't much we can do 'bout it now, though I should be thankful that the detector's still workin'"

Vincent took the chocobo's bridle and placed it in Cid's hand. "You take the bird. The field rations and water I can do without."

Cid shook the sand out of his goggles. "Look, you might think you're invincible, but you're still human, even you can't go three days without water comfortably not when we've got to cross the terrain in this heat. We can share."

"Ignoring that I am practically indestructible, I can't go comfortably without water, so I shall travel by different means."

Cid nodded. "Not for too long, and we travel mostly when it's cooler." He mounted the chocobo and looked back at Vincent. "Let's get moving then ya walking carpet."

Galian beast offered a growl in retort and kept up pace with the chocobo.

They kept up the pace for several miles, but the chocobo, no matter how well adapted for the terrain, needed rest. The heat of the midday sun was making Cid almost long for the cold of Great Glacier. They found an alcove in the cliff face and took refuge from the sun. Cid tried to get some sleep but failed miserably with the smell of the chocobo practically filling his nostrils. Galian Beast had disappeared, Cid figured probably to find food. One of the advantages Vincent had was if food was scare for him, Galian Beast could do the hunting. His diet might be unsavoury to Vincent, but in a pinch it kept him alive and well.

Late afternoon Vincent returned. "If we follow the rock face as we've been doing, we're going to run into a thunderbird nesting site. We're going to have to skirt the outside of their territory and come back toward it once we've got past them." As if to answer Cid's unspoken question, he added, "The nesting area doesn't appear to be too large, so we should come up to the second search point after we've gone around them."

"Well, we'd better start makin' time then." Cid took a mouthful of water and remounted the chocobo. "We should probably head for that rocky outcrop we passed comin' this way by nightfall. I'm not sure I want to be wanderin' around here in the dark."

The outcrop was quite some miles away, so Cid spurred the chocobo into a run, Galian beast keeping up comfortable nearby. As the rock face became craggier, Galian Beast veered off out more into the open. Cid reined the chocobo to follow across the open land. It was more risky travelling out in the open, especially with so little provision, but when weighed with travelling near a nesting colony of thunderbirds, it was the better option. The sun was going down so Cid put his jacket on, it's been tied round his waist when the adamantaimai attacked, so had survived intact. Something he was now quite thankful of.

With the outcrop in sight, Vincent took his own form again; Cid dismounted allowing the chocobo to walk the last stretch and kept a lookout for any possible attack. They kept a comfortable silence, which trying to walk the stiffness out of his legs and backside after hours sitting on the bird, Cid was not ungrateful for.

The outcrop was a large pile of boulders. How it had come to be there was unknown. But they rocks were large enough and there were enough of them that they provided a slight natural cover so they could rest without being over exposed. The chocobo was tied near in a recess of its own while Cid and Vincent sat near a slightly bigger one. They talked for a while, then sat in silence until Cid attempted to lie down to get some sleep. He lay there shivering and somewhat envious of Vincent's cloak. The northern side of the Wutain continent might have balmy temperatures, but the south central was blazing hot during the day, and as Cid was now being reminded, freezing temperatures at night.

Staring at the rock in front of him debating whether to give it all up and just die of cold right now, he felt the ends of long fur tickle his face. He craned his neck to just about see that Vincent, no, Galian Beast had taken up residence between him and the outside world and laying close enough to keep him warm. Cid though, decided against it, and then decided propriety be damned, this was survival and still keeping his back to him, just shuffled a little closer in toward the warm. "Thanks," he muttered. "But you still smell." He smiled in the dark when he was answered with a contemptuous snort.

By the afternoon on the third day, they had successfully bypassed the thunderbirds with little incident and now Cid, more unshaven than usual smelled about as good as Galian Beast did. In fact worse, as if he were in the mood to be honest, he'd admit that Galian Beast didn't actually smell that much.

They were at a slower pace now, the chocobo had gone for a while without water and it was starting to show. Cid had managed to save a few greens but it was not enough to keep the bird in good shape. Sniffing the air, Galian Beast run off a way ahead, sniffing at the rocks. He put his paw on it and pushed.

Cid watched him as he gradually caught up. Dismounting the chocobo, he walked up to Vincent. "Found something?"

"I think so. Old magic, or at least that's what it smells like. Have you got the detector there?"

Cid rummaged in his folded up coat on the chocobo. "Here." He didn't ask what Vincent meant by old magic, or how it smelt any different than any other type. He learnt over the years some things you just trusted Galian Beast to know, and therefore, Vincent too.

The detector was telling them that there was something there. Cid laid his palm on the rock. "Feels as real as any other rock."

"It's not though. I don't know how to get though it, or how to remove the spell."

"There's no chance of me havin' a clue then."

"I would suggest that we talk with Nanaki," Vincent said.

"Right. Well if we make a note of our location and get back to the airship pronto, as this chocobo's not gonna last much longer, and I'm not sure I'm going to hold out much more myself." He held up the nearly empty bottle for emphasis.

"What have we got?" Vincent asked.

"I've got one potion left, which I'm trying to keep back in case of a real emergency, but I think the bird's gonna need it soon or we will have an emergency. I had antidotes, but they got trampled so we'd better hope we don't run into any bugs."

"We've still got over a day's travel to do. We can't afford to use the potion just yet."

"That's the problem, if I don't we've just increased our travelling time by two days. You might make it, but you can't carry me and ol' beaky here. I'm not in any danger of dying here, providin' I don't get lost, but it's gonna be damn uncomfortable."

Marking the spot, they set of again, as fast as they could but at a much reduced pace than previously. When night fell, they settled into silence. Cid feeling too parched to talk, Vincent not really having anything to say. It grew colder making Cid try to draw his coat further round him.

"I can't help with the cold this time," Vincent said, sounding apologetic. "Whilst I have control, the more freedom he has, the harder it becomes to keep him reined in."

"I understand - sort of," Cid said sounding hoarse. "I could cuddle the chocobo, just I think he smells worse than the carpet." He started coughing.

Vincent wouldn't admit it, and though Cid was still worse off than him, he was starting to feel the strain of the last few days and the lack of water. He didn't feel the cold as easily, but when combined with everything else, he was starting to feel it seeping in. As Cid did tend to remind him, he wasn't actually invincible. "We need to keep warm," He stated simply.

"Tell me about it." Cid continued shivering, too tired to stand up and try to move about.

"In you're weakened state, the cold will get to you first." Vincent removed his cloak and put it around Cid. Cid attempted to protest which Vincent duly ignored. "I'm being practical. The temperature, while cold, is not cold enough to succumb to, unless you are in a weakened condition. You are in a weakened condition. I am not."

Cid still put up an argument, even if it was half hearted. In the end they compromised, both men leant up against the chocobo and put the cloak over both of them which to Cid seemed far more practical all round.

-- -- --

There were a few small shacks set up as meeting places for when it was raining, or if people just didn't want to be outside. One of them had turned into a makeshift bar. Reno had found his way to this part of the commune very quickly.

The shack itself was pretty dingy with a few makeshift chairs. There was no real bar, just a small pile of kegs and bottles in the corner for people to help themselves. Reno was still trying to find out where they got the gil for their supplies.

Currently it was occupied by about three other men and Reno. He'd so far been disinterestedly talking with Evans for about half an hour and the man was boring him, beyond his professional interest.

"Where's your girl?" Evans asked.

"I dunno. Powderin' her nose?" Reno replied lazily as he lounged in his chair.

Evan's sat down near Reno. "What's your trade again?"

"Me? Demolition." Reno smiled. The way he did when he was looking forward to something.

"Your girl gotta trade?"

"Yeah, but I'd keep it hushed, she doesn't like anyone to know. She's kinda embarrassed, you know what I mean?"

"She's from Wutai ain't she? Didn't think they had any brothels over that way, or did you pick her up in the slums?"

Reno gave a humourless smile. "No, you mistook my meanin'. She's not in _that_ line o' work. She's an ex-WRO. Explosives and weapons specialist, to be exact. But being a pacifist, its awkward for her, too many questions, y'know?"

Reno watched closely as Evans nodded sympathetically. He had not missed the slight peak in interest Evans body language had given away at the mention of an Explosives specialist.

"You're a very fortunate man."

"I like to think so." Reno smiled. The bait had been set, now to see if the man would bite.

A scruffy, large man in a dirty faded brown checked shirt walked over. He nodded toward Reno then turned to Evans. "We're ready, Boss."

Evans stood and held out a hand to Reno. Taking Reno's proffered hand, he shook it. "We'll have to talk again sometime very soon. You look like a man I could get on with."

"Sure. Nice to meet you too." Reno watched Evans walk off, then wiped his hand on the back of his chair with a slight look of distain. The bait had been taken.

-- -- --

Yuffie was having no such luck. Her numerous talks with Jula and the other women had yielded nothing more than recipes, what local berries were best for healing wounds, or adding to washing water and where the best edible mushrooms were to be found. There was also lots of talking about ways to help the planet sustain itself from mans destruction until they could all join with it again. Yuffie had come to think either the women genuinely had nothing to do with the terrorists, or they were much better at hiding it and didn't recruit.

Any more mentions of the uses of zeo nuts and she was going to scream. She almost envied Evans for having Reno's company at times. But whilst their initial time here had uncovered very little; as expected, the last week had paid off. Reno, whilst not fully trusted, had seemed to be accepted into the fold rather quickly as a provisional member. She figured he was such an untrustworthy bastard himself that he would fit in with them without any problems. She also had to begrudgingly admit, whether she agreed with it or not, he was good at his job.

The isolation was getting to her. She missed her friends, her family. Sometimes the intelligence work she did for Reeve was not that interesting, but nothing she'd done so far compared to this. Stuck in this place, with a bunch of, she figured that was a hard one to describe, but Evans gave her the creeps, especially the way he looked at her. It reminded her too much of the look Corneo gave her when he had her tied to that rock with Elena. She had to fight the urge to bust his ass then and there. But the women here she liked, even if she thought them a bit weird.

Reno was a bastard, so no change there. But he was the only thing she had here that was familiar, and she hated him even more for that. She sat on the bed, throwing a small ball she'd found, up against the wall. As the door creaked, she turned slightly and lobbed the ball head height at the intruder. A hand flew up and caught it. "Missed me huh?"

"Get lost." She said quietly.

"I got better things to do with my time than spend it here, but I ain't got no choice either, yo."

Yuffie glowered at him. "You sound like an idiot when you end your sentences like that."

"You just sound like an idiot. Yo." He emphasised it.

Yuffie pulled a face at him and turned her back.

"Fancy a walk?" He said, his voice returning to a normal level.

Yuffie sighed in relief. It meant that there had been word from either Reeve or Rufus. She bounced up, glad that something might finally be happening. "Yeah, let's go!" As they stepped outside, she ignored the irritation as she dutifully linked her arm around Reno's and walked with him through the camp and out into the thicker woods beyond.

Once they had reached a good distance from the camp, Yuffie couldn't hold her tongue anymore. "Word from Reeve? Rufus? Can I get outta here yet?"

Reno stopped and put his hand over her mouth. Holding her despite her struggles. "Geez, you gotta mouth on ya. Shut up an' I might be able to tell you."

Yuffie stopped struggling, looking indignant as Reno moved his hand away. She sat down on the ground. "So what are we doing?"

"You ain't gonna like it." Reno was going to add that he really wasn't happy either, but decided it was a moot point. He already insulted her enough for her to know that.

"Just tell me."

"Obviously, I filled them in on how our infiltratin' the group was goin'. Both have decided that to rush in now would be too quick, we need to gain their trust more. A number of smaller hits would do that.

"Awww, you mean I'm going to be here for even longer?"

"Quit whining. You'd make a lousy Turk y'know."

"I wouldn't ever want to be one of you scum." Yuffie shot back.

"Good job, 'cause you'd never be good enough. Look, can we quit the petty insults for five so I can finish getting you up to speed?"

"Whatever." she folded her arms, annoyed.

"The guys have got a few minor targets in mind, so I'm gonna 'encourage' them. Then, if it works out, I'm setting them up for something a bit bigger. That's where you come in."

"I get to do something finally!"

"If you don't botch it up." He ignored the dirty look and carried on. "We're gonna line up a building that will seem to be in use. A bigger target, somethin' to boost their confidence. And I'm sending you."

"I'm doing it?"

"You're supposed to be the ex-WRO specialist. I'm pretty nifty myself, but my partner's the best explosive experts in the game. I learnt a lot from him in that department. I'm gonna spend the next month or two teaching you everything I know."

Yuffie only really focused on a few words that Reno had said. "The next month or two?!" She groaned. "Ooooh, Reeve owes me big time for this one." The thought of having to spend that much time under Reno's tutelage was really too much.


	10. Information and Education

The two men had finally arrived back at the airship, tattered, bruised and worn. Vincent couldn't risk allowing Galian Beast any more freedom and the last potion had been used that morning on the chocobo to keep it alive. Both men were parched and Cid was certainly the worse for wear.

Both had been taken to the Shera's infirmary and the chocobo had been loaded on board was receiving care in the loading bay. It was now late evening. Cid and Vincent were now the infirmaries sole occupiers now they had been patched up and hydrated and left to get some rest. Cid could feel the humming of the ships engines lull him to sleep as the airship made for Cosmo Canyon, which he'd rasped the order for as one of his crew dragged him to the infirmary before he could plant himself on the bridge.

Vincent, though tired couldn't sleep. Outwardly he'd blamed Cid's snoring. He'd not had much time to think beyond immediate concerns and he'd welcomed the diversion. Spending as much time as he had with Galian Beast in the control seat left him now mentally and physically worn. Even though he'd admit to Cid he couldn't keep it up on their last night in the Wutain Central Valley, he'd not been prepared to admit just how much effort he'd used keeping Galian Beast under some sort of control. He tried focusing his mind on the power generators, also Cid's airship and the puzzle that they represented. There seemed to be this whole history of Cetra life that there was no mention of anywhere. Though they were not in the same field, he sometimes wished he'd had more his father's ability in the field of science.

Vincent looked over at the bed next to him to be greeted by Cid's open eyes. "You thinkin' too much again?"

Vincent sighed. "No."

Cid took a sip of water from the cup next to his bed, wetting his cracked lips. He put the cup down and looked back at Vincent who was now staring at the ceiling. "You're a lousy liar."

"I apologise for not taking my phone. If I had not left it on the 'ship the last three days would have been a lot easier." Vincent changed the subject.

"And miss out on havin' the Walkin' Carpet's hair up my nostrils? Not on your life."

Vincent smiled. "I should apologise for that too, but it seemed a better alternative than you freezing."

"Don't. You didn't see me complainin'."

"I thought that was because of how much your teeth were chattering."

"Nah, it was having either your fur or your cloak shoved in my face that stopped that one." Cid laughed, then swore as a split on his lip reopened.

Vincent snorted. "You're welcome."

"I should call Shera tomorrow. She'll be worried, not hearin' from me in three days." He noticed Vincent look away. Concerned that Vincent had taken too much on over the last the last three days, "You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. Just tired."

"We should get some rest," Cid said. Both lapsed into silence, leaving Cid to wonder why he when he mentioned Shera, it was the first time he'd thought about her in three days. He missed her, so no change there but he felt that when falling asleep next to Vincent it should be her he was thinking about.

They made Cosmo Canyon in good time despite having to make a course change to avoid an oncoming storm. Vincent was disappointed to find they'd missed Nanaki by a few days, but was contented to talk to others around the settlement until he could find someone who may know something about old magic.

They were introduced to a man whom everyone called Tio, though none knew what his real name was as there was no one left who could remember when he'd first come to the canyon.

Vincent was pointed in the direction of his small hut by a young girl who giggled at the mention of Tio's name. "Watch out, he's senile," she called as she ran off.

Vincent knocked on the ill fitting door and went in at the sound of a raspy voice telling him to enter. An old man sat by a plain wooden table, a candle burning at its centre. There was not room for much else as there seemed to be more books than living space. Books were on shelves, in piles on the floor, some texts looked to be older than Vincent.

"So, you want to know about old magic do you?" gnarled fingers pulled at the loose threads of the book binding he had in his lap then set it to one side for repairing at a later time. "You'd better come in and take a seat, lad."

Vincent didn't like to point out that there was no second chair, so he carefully avoided knocking the book pile to the side of him and sat on a small wooden box near the table. "Can you tell me anything about it?" He asked.

"It all depends on what about it you wish to know." The old man turned his head toward the sound of Vincent's voice.

It was at that point Vincent saw that in addition to being apparently senile, Tio was also blind. "I want to know how to remove it."

"Remove it you say? Sometimes to remove ancient magic is not wise. No knowing what you can let loose on the world." Tio nodded in agreement with himself. "Yes, no telling what can be released."

Vincent saw very little reason to hide what he was looking for from the old man. He got the impression if he didn't say what it was he was looking for, Tio would be very little help. "The magic in question hides a machine."

"Ahhh, I see. You seek an ancient machina? Then maybe I can be of help to you." He fumbled in his robe until he found a pipe, which he chewed on the end of but didn't light. He removed it from his mouth again. "There are still many things to be found in the depths of the world."

"You know of the power generators?"

"Power generators? If that's what you young ones are calling machina these days, then I suppose I know something of them." He chewed on the pipe again.

Vincent was beginning to wonder if maybe the girl hadn't been exaggerating when the old man spoke again. "Look for the Shinra name, Gongaga holds the answer."

"Is there anything else you can tell me? Where in Gongaga to look?" Vincent asked, slightly perplexed at the 'help' he'd been given.

"I'm old and tired and my memories fading, lad. Come and see me again one day." He picked up his book and continued fiddling with the binding.

Vincent thanked Tio for what little help he had offered and returned to the Shera.

"Learn anythin'?" Cid asked when Vincent was back on the ship.

Vincent related what Tio had told him.

"Well, that's a lot of damn use." He took a drag on his cigarette. "I'll drop you off at Edge before going on to Gongaga."

-- -- --

Yuffie's training had been slow starting. Not that they needed much reason as everything was pretty lax and they never needed an excuse to leave the camp, but it was finding a way of taking supplies and finding somewhere Reno could teach her without raising attention that had caused the hold up.

Yuffie came up with the idea that they could take a tent and go make it look like they were going camping. A young couple wanting to spend a few days totally alone wasn't unusual. That decided, it was just a matter of finding somewhere that they would not be heard.

Reno was capable of making some quite powerful explosives from everyday household chemicals so they didn't need to take much with them. Yuffie would only need to be taught the practical side of it with a limited number of substances, as the terrorist group were limited to what they could get. But she did need to know as much as he did on the theoretical side. If her cover was to be believable, Yuffie needed to be able to answer questions, any questions that were fired at her.

Yuffie had managed to steal what they needed from the camp stores with little difficulty and had it placed in a backpack ready for when they left. They travelled north out of the forest and continued until Reno was satisfied they had put enough distance between them and the camp.

Reno pulled a tent out of his large rucksack. Yuffie looked at him annoyed. "You only brought one tent?"

Not bothering to look at her, he started pitching the tent. "I had to borrow this one. It'd look a bit strange if I asked for two of them, don'tcha think?"

"Urgh! You're sleeping outside."

Reno laughed. "Don't think so, yo. You can sleep outside and get eaten by something if you object to sharin' that much."

"You had better at least have two sleeping bags." Yuffie sat down on the grass heavily.

Reno threw some tent pegs at her feet. "Make yourself useful." He grinned at her as stuck her tongue out at him, but got on with putting the tent pegs in the side nearest to her. "And, yes. I did bring separate blankets. I really don't want to jump you that badly you know."

Yuffie almost looked indignant. "Do you have any redeeming features at all?"

"Only about three more than you, and that's not a lot."

"Asshole." She threw a tent peg at him.

Reno was still quicker than she would have liked as it flew past his ear. "You could hurt someone if you had better aim."

She got up to retrieve the tent peg, if nothing else, she didn't have to look at him for a few seconds. "Can we just get on with this? The quicker we can go back to the camp the better."

Reno shook his head. "Patience is a virtue."

"I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I don't like you, I don't like your boss, I don't like anything you stand for. So for me, the quicker I'm out of your hair, the better." Yuffie sighed. She knew why Reeve had asked her to do this, she was the best he'd got. But it was days like this she wished he had someone better.

"Look," Reno said. "I'm well aware of your feelings, you've made them pretty damn obvious over the last few weeks. And whilst I never get bored of this petty bickering personally, can we just try to make the best of the bad situation? I'm not exactly thrilled by all this either."

"I suppose we're technically on the same side right now."

"It's not the first time." Reno pointed out.

"Maybe." Yuffie conceded. "But it's the first time I've had to put up with you."

Reno, having arranged some of the contents of Yuffie's rucksack in front of him, held out his hand. "Just pass me the bicarbonate of soda and watch closely will ya?"

Yuffie was to Reno's relief, a fast learner. He'd worked on having the finer points of various basic explosives properly understood by the end of four days. As it was, she had proved herself an adept pupil and by the end of the second day, she was as good as he would have hoped. Not that he was teaching her anything complicated by his standards. The only bombs they could make had to involve the most rudimentary and commonly found materials. He'd taught her very early on by demonstration, that simple though they may be, it didn't make them any less dangerous.

Evans was a man that probably liked to see flashy results, so Reno had made sure that some sort of incendiary was in the mix, and one powerful enough to take out a small building. As Yuffie had explained to him, it wasn't as if she knew nothing about explosives at all and as there was nothing more they could do for now that couldn't be done at the camp, they packed up ready to return.

All that remained to do now was entrench himself further into the group, teach Yuffie the theoretical and anything else that may present itself along the way and take these people down from the inside. Reno smiled at the thought of the challenge as they hiked back. Too easy.

Yuffie was glad to be heading back. Though she also had to admit; if only to herself, she had enjoyed herself a little and was looking forward to being able to actually do something.


	11. A Letter from the Past

The Shera was heading for Edge. Cid had set course back there before Vincent had even had a chance to ask again. They stood on the observation deck, looking out over the night sky. Lights from Gold Saucer could be faintly seen in the distance. "I should drop the gil for the chocobo in to Ester; by I'll do it on route to Gongaga. It's a bit of a detour, but I may need to pick up another one to replace the one we lost. Seems daft to cart on all the way to Edge and back," Cid said, breaking the silence.

"Who's going to Gongaga with you?"

"I've got one of the crew I can take as an extra pair of hands." He looked back out the window and sighed. "Ya'know, I'm grateful to do it once, but it's like anything good. Once you've had a taste of it, you want it even more."

Vincent followed the line of Cid's gaze to a star blinking near the horizon. "Space?"

Cid nodded slowly, breaking the steady flow of smoke from his cigarette. "You should have seen it, Vince. Sometimes when a man dreams..."He broke off. "Argh, listen to me. Getting soft in the head."

"Sometimes when a man dreams, the stars become within his grasp." Vincent quoted softly, not taking his eyes from the stars.

"Loveless? Didn't know you read poetry, though I can't say I'm surprised."

"Once, a long time ago," Vincent replied.

"I saw the play once. Well..." Cid rubbed his nose. "I say saw. I actually fell asleep. Shera likes to read it though, and has quoted that line at me on a number of occasions."

They stood watching the stars for a few minutes when Cid turned round. "Well, I've got work to be gettin' on with."

"Do you require any help?"

"Nah, its fine. With you in Edge, I'm going to need to be more organised this time. Taking rookies," he sighed. "Always fun." He stubbed the cigarette out on the sole of his boot, looked around for somewhere to put the dog end, seeing nowhere nearby, he shoved it back into the cigarette packet. "Catch ya later."

Vincent nodded, not watching Cid stroll off. He shouldn't, as Cid was a capable man, but he was concerned about Cid's search of Gongaga alone with just an inexperienced crew member for help. Their last day in the Central Valley Vincent had woken early that morning while Cid and the chocobo still slept. It wasn't until he put his hand out to steady himself as he rose that he saw a bug impaled near his hip, pinned to the ground by Cid's knife. He had not mentioned it, just removed and cleaned the knife then returned it to the front pocket of Cid's jacket before he roused the man from sleep.

And he still hadn't mentioned it. He was indebted, as if Cid had been less sharp, it could have spelt disaster for them both. With Vincent poisoned, there would have been little hope of them making it back to the airship alive. He didn't have trouble expressing simple thanks and he wasn't surprised that Cid had still been that sharp even in his condition. He'd seen the man fight in worse shape during the Jenova war. What made him keep his silence was that he'd had Cid that close to him. To reach the bug, Cid would have needed to lean across him. Cid had been close enough for Vincent to feel him breathing, and he hadn't woken up. He wasn't sure which aspect of this made him feel more uncomfortable.

Cid yawned and stretched. He wasn't tired despite still feeling a little sore. But staring at the small print of the paperwork on his desk was making his eyes hurt.

He rose from the desk, crossed the room and stepped out into the hallway. He wasn't sure what he wanted, except tea. His last stop in Edge, he'd picked up an old fashioned stove kettle along with extra bottles of gas for the camping stove. He walked to the recreational area's small kitchen and made himself a cup of tea. With that done, he decided to return to his quarters.

Instead of his own, he found himself stood outside Vincent's. He debated whether to knock, then realised he had no reason to and returned to his own room.

He'd just settled into a comfortable slouch, tea within easy reach, when a soft knock came from the door. Cid got up and pushed the button. The door slid open revealing Vincent standing there. "Hi, Vince." Cid returned to his chair, rubbing the back of his neck.

"If I have disturbed you, I shall leave."

Cid gestured for him to come in. "What can I do for ya?"

Vincent looked like he was about to say something, seemingly changing his mind and started again. "Is there anything in Edge I can take of while you're in Gongaga?"

Cid did wonder why this couldn't wait until morning, it wasn't like Vincent forgot anything. "We stocked up pretty well with the last trip back. The rest of the fleet's tickin' over without me. I can't think of anythin' off hand." There was a niggling feeling he should say something else. There was something about Vincent that was different, but he couldn't place what.

Vincent spared him by speaking himself. "I spoke to Reeve earlier. They've finally cleared out the mansion in Nibelheim."

Cid understood the significance. "That's why you're returning to Edge?"

"Partly."

"Do you want me to come with ya?" Cid knew the answer before he asked, but the offer of moral support was genuine.

"No. You have your own business to attend and I'm taking up enough of your time with this detour."

It was the sudden formality in Vincent's voice that made Cid focus on what was different, the slight look of informality that clashed with the tone of his words. His claw. The surprise nearly made Cid choke on his tea.

Vincent rose to clap Cid on the back, who was now wiping his face with a tissue gesturing to Vincent he was okay. He looked at Vincent's right hand, though it was still covered in a soft leather glove.

Vincent noticed the direction of Cid's gaze and unconsciously moved his hand from view beneath his cloak.

"Sorry," Cid said. "Not somethin' I thought I'd see."

"My hand?" Vincent looked down at it before turning back to Cid.

"I thought..." Cid cut off; there were some things you just didn't broach. "...well...I...Never mind."

For a brief second Vincent looked almost amused. "It's alright. It's just a weapon, nothing more."

Now Cid was even more surprised. "I've never seen you remove it before. I didn't think it could come off." Hell, the man had always slept with it on.

"I've never had reason to remove it before."

In that one sentence, Cid realised the enormous gesture of trust Vincent had just shown. He placed a hand on Vincent's shoulder. "Vince, you never fail to surprise me." He hurriedly moved his hand and lit a cigarette, praying to Shiva that he hadn't given the wrong impression. Last thing he needed was Vincent's gesture of friendship marred by misunderstanding. Cid knew he wasn't known for his tact in certain situations, not when they involved himself.

Cid's seeming discomfort, though brief, did not escape Vincent's notice. "I have kept you from rest enough for one night, I will leave."

"I'm glad of the company, anytime. You know that." He gestured for Vincent to sit down again. "Look, I'll come to Edge with you."

"It really isn't necessary, Cid." Vincent did appreciate the captain's gesture.

"Ah, what are friends for? If nothin else, I can use it as an excuse to run that errand for Shera I was supposed to do before all this started."

---- ---- ----

There was still a full morning's travel until they arrived in Edge. Vincent made himself scarce, though he himself would have to admit to it hardly being necessary.

Cid spent most of the morning piloting the Shera. Unlike Vincent, the only motivation for his actions was he felt he'd spent too long on the ground the past few weeks. He was prepared to trust to judgment that Vincent hadn't taken his remark as Cid making light of Vincent's trust.

Half an hour before they were due to arrive in Edge, Cid handed over control of the helm to go and find Vincent. He found him on the small observation deck where they had stood the previous day. "Vince?"

Vincent turned to face him. "Reeve met with Rufus yesterday. Plans are being made to discreetly secure the area around the Glacier generator. He wants to see you as soon as we arrive."

Cid made a mental note to pick up a new phone. He knew if Reeve wanted to see him specifically, then Reeve either had something else for him to do, or it was something to do with Shera. "Well, good job I came back with ya then.

They disembarked on arrival, Vincent leaving Cid to go and see the Commissioner initially without him. With nothing pressing to do, Vincent went to see Shelke only to find she was in the mako chamber and would be there for some time. He sat at the desk in the half light and closed his eyes.

A lot had been answered. He was thankful to Lucrecia, she had saved his life. He liked to believe she had done it out of feeling for him rather than guilt at his father's death. Vincent allowed himself a small ironic smile. "And I said it was you who always believed what you wanted to,' he said softly.

He almost didn't want to admit to himself that when he closed his eyes Lucrecia's face was there less often. Finding out about Chaos, everything that had happened, it had answered a lot, and had laid a lot of his inner demons to rest, one of them quite literally. It had helped him come to terms with everything that had happened, but not everything had fallen neatly into place. He knew why Lucrecia had pushed him away, or at least he felt he did, but the only thing he'd never understood, was why she had chosen Hojo. He had wondered at the time if she had truly felt something for Hojo, and maybe she had. He had wanted her to be happy, but there was sometimes the selfish voice in the back of his mind wanting to believe she had run to Hojo for reasons other than love. Atoning for ones sins was all very well, but human failings had a tendency of getting in the way. The little voice in the back of his mind had, over time become louder. Vincent knew he found a strange sort of comfort in his culpability. But as time had passed by, he knew that Lucrecia hadn't been as clean of blame as he wanted.

The WRO's clearing out of the Shinra mansion, ready for its subsequent demolition, has not unwelcome news, but it did drag back to the surface feelings Vincent had been more easily of late, pushing to one side.

Cid walked into Reeve's office, Reeve looking genuinely pleased to see him. "Cid! I'm glad to see you are well. After being told what happened in Central Valley it's good to see you in one piece."

Cid returned the proffered handshake. "Not gonna kill me that easily."

Reeve laughed. "I never thought anything would, my friend."

Cid brought Reeve up to speed with everything they knew so far.

"That's disappointing." Reeve said. "Mideel is within easy reach of Great Glacier if they go by sea, but the Northern Crater is still an unstable, dangerous region."

"They could take a boat down as far as Icicle."

"They could. But really the only place to moor a boat is the small port that services Bone Village." Reeve explained. "By the time the operation is ready to lure the group out, we could be talking the middle of winter. The glacial waters will be too frozen to get past. Even Round Island's frozen at that time of year."

Cid looked thoughtful. "They won't want to tackle that in winter, and across land, that's a long way to go."

"You see my problem?" Going east to Wutai would be easier for them. They're not going to take on a target beyond their capabilities."

"Until we deal with that magic, we can't get to the Wutain generator ourselves," Cid said.

Reeve sighed. "Thank you, Cid. I know you're going above and beyond the call of duty with this one."

"Ah hell, I get an airship outta it."

Reeve smiled. "You've heard from Shera?"

"Yeah, she called Vincent's phone just before I got back here, but there was too much static, couldn't make out all the excitement."

Reeve passed Cid a small data pad. "Shera transmitted this across this morning."

Cid whistled as he processed the information. "So you weren't wrong in you're estimate of the ground coverage."

"No. If anything, it would appear we underestimated it." Reeve took back the data pad as Cid held it out to him. "She's doing a remarkable job."

Cid grinned. "'course she is, she's a remarkable woman."

Reeve was about to reply when the intercom beeped. "Mr Valentine to see you, Commissioner."

Reeve pressed the button on the intercom. "Show him in."

The door opened to admit Vincent. Cid crossed over to him. "Shall I go?"

"No need." Vincent reassured him.

Reeve greeted him. "We found this. I'm surprised it survived for so long." He said handed an aged envelope.

"What is it?" Vincent asked.

"Just read it. I don't know what it contains exactly, just who it was written by." Reeve smiled, placed a hand on his friend's shoulder then left him by himself.

Vincent unfolded the paper. It was faded and difficult to make out in places, but his heart jumped as he recognised the small neat handwriting.

_Vincent,_

_I know that you will probably never see this, but I have to try. I__'__m sorry. I know you didn__'__t understand my choice. I loved__…oi……………__..but worried about you__……__felt__……__..then I could__………__he hurt you._

_I could never tell you ... __…_

_I__'__m __…__ ..rry._

He folded the paper carefully again. The familiar weight in his chest for a moment became as acute as it had ever been. He left the room and walked past the others waiting for him, ignoring the concerned looks and Cid as he said his name and left the building.

Cid and Reeve watched him go; on Vincent's lack of response to them they knew it was best to leave him to himself. He'd return when he was ready.

Cid lit a cigarette. "I don't know about you, but I could do with a beer," he said.

Vincent returned to Shelke's workroom. Shelke was now sitting at her desk, but she rose and looked at him questioningly as he came closer.

"Something is bothering you, Vincent?" She looked at him closer. "You are unhappy."

"No. But I would like to ask you something."

"Of course."

He passed her the letter. "Do you have any idea about this?"

Shelke looked at the letter. "No, I don't. Lucrecia's data fragments were needed to find the protomateria, I ignored the personal information beyond what was relevant." She looked at the letter trying to make out the marred words. "Isn't it enough to know she cared for you, must you know why?" She said as she handed the letter back to Vincent.

Vincent took it and placed it safely away. "Curiosity."

Shelke gave a disbelieving look. "Curiosity? Even if you knew, it may not bring the peace of mind you seek, sometimes the truth can hurt more than the fiction we create for ourselves."

Vincent nodded. "I shall see you again once I return from Gongaga."

"Of course."


	12. Camp life

Yuffie was in the outdoor area that was used as the communal kitchen peeling potatoes, as the other women were working around her, preparing the evening meal. Yuffie had been itching for a long time to ask a question, which, now Jula was next to her, she decided to take the opportunity to ask. "Why do the men never help out with this stuff?

Jula looked at her in mild shock. "Women do the work women are supposed to do. The men fill their traditional roles. I cannot hunt."

"But what if I can? Reno's got arms, let him peel the potatoes for once, I'll catch dinner."

Jula laughed. "I'd like to see you get that one to peel potatoes."

Yuffie liked Jula, but sometimes she thought the women of the camp needed a lesson in current social trends and where they were headed. Instead she just smiled. I'll have him peeling potatoes before long."

Reno was out on a patrol with Evans keeping the borders of the camp free of monsters. They had passed the time in idle conversation, always with Reno gently guiding Evans words in the direction he wanted the man to follow. He had managed to get in a small group of Evans' men on a few minor attacks on Midgar. They had gone well, though the areas hit had been unpopulated at the time. With a few minor, if not successes, not failures under his belt, he was hoping to get more directly in with Evans and build up the group's confidence to hit something bigger.

"So, boss. What exactly is it we're hoping to achieve by hitting Midgar? No one's there much 'cept workers, besides The WRO's got a sizable military, so it's not like we can displace them."

"Why not? At the moment, it's an easier target that Edge. The WRO guard the place, but the security isn't as high." Evans loudly blew his nose, stuffing the old tissue back into his pocket. "Even with the small victories we've made, they take us too lightly. But that makes life easier for us."

"So what's your goal here really? I got that you tagged onto VEHGA at first, but since then?"

"To be honest," Evans said as he picked his teeth with a toothpick, making Reno wish the man would take care of his personal hygiene sometime when he wasn't there. "I don't really give a flying fuck for what VEHGA want, they're a bunch of wet pacifists." Evans continued. "Some of the other guys here genuinely believe it, but feel it should be a little more 'pro-active', you could say." He laughed at his own bad joke. "I'm happy enough to use that. If they have any kind of success, I figure I could get something out of it. New world, new leaders. Initially? I was in it mainly for fun, but then the old guy got killed by the dual horn that was let loose, so I took over. Now I figure, rather than have a go at the WRO which was always the old guy's motivation, how 'bout if I step it up a notch. eh?"

Reno silently groaned. Another mindless thug wanting to be the big man. Reno disliked him, the man was a slob and reminded him of Don Corneo. Reno might have been a bit of a lazy-ass jack himself, but he had some kind of standards. He just nodded. "Never know where it could lead ya."

"True. So, your girl then. She faithful to ya?" Evans said ,changing the subject.

Yes, much like Don. Reno smiled, but there was none of it in his eyes. "She's my fiancée, an' any other man that tries to touch her will find himself minus his balls." He knew there was a reason he didn't like working with women. Too much trouble, at least with Rude he didn't have to deal with lecherous fat old bastards kidnapping him or subtly seeing if he'd pimp out him for a quick gil. He knew some would accuse him of a certain amount of lechery, but he figured they were just sore that he got the girls. He see himself as a ladies man, and if he was going screw some guy's woman, it'd be because she wanted him, not because her old man had pimped her out.

Evans nodded. "Lot of men round here, watch she don't take a liking to one of 'em." He winked.

Reno grinned weakly and resolved to keep Yuffie at a distance from Evans. He didn't like her that much, but no one needed that fat bastard trying to get into their pants.

They had come back into the camp. "Let me show you something, boy."

Reno nodded, interested as to what Evans could possible have that would be of any interest. He followed Evans through the camp, dutifully waving at Yuffie as he passed, in a way he knew would annoy her.

To the east of the camp, the side that bordered Mideel, Evan's uncovered a small wooden lid set in the floor of the forest. Lifting it up, Reno could see coloured orbs sitting inside.

"Materia? How the hell'd you get them?"

Evans smiled. "One advantage of living so close to where Mideel once was. The lifestream on the surface throws up some goodies for us at times." He put the lid back and covered it again. "And that's not all." Evans moved another, this time larger wooden lid. Inside the buried crate were weapons. He put the lid back, scraping to cover it with brush again with his boot. "One of the better things that come out of our raids of Midgar."

"You intend on using these," Reno stated.

"Correct. I figure we can't take on the WRO just yet, but with this we can take Midgar. I don't want to rule the world, I just want my piece of it."

Reno wondered how Evans figured he was going to achieve his goals. The military of the WRO wasn't exactly small. They'd taken losses with Deepground, but not enough for a two-bit thug to take over Midgar. President Shinra was happy to ignore people like Don Corneo, as long as they didn't dig into Shinra pockets, but this was too ambitious and Reeve was not President Shinra. He wasn't going to turn a blind eye to anything. "Problem is, boss, is can we take Midgar with just the handful of men we've got? The materia and Deepground weapons will give us an edge, but is it enough? "

They started walking back into the camp proper. "There are enough displaced men in the world who would be willing to be a part of shaping the future. We see them everyday."

"True. But will there be enough?"

Evans' reply made Reno feel Evans had been put on the planet to jump through Reno's hoops. "We give them something else, away from Midgar, We use the smaller attacks to divert them there, then we hit something big somewhere else. They'll move people and while they're distracted...wham." He punched his fist into his palm for emphasis. "We get a foot in the door."

Reno looked suitably enthused. "Any ideas what to hit yet, boss?"

"No, but we'll know when it comes up. We'll just bid our time."

"I look forward to it."

Evans grinned. "Keep the good work up, and you'll be my right hand man by then."

"I'll just have to keep getting things right then." Reno smirked, the picture of confidence. "Well, I'd better go find my girl."

Evans laughed. "Yeah, you should. She's a valued asset to us, it wouldn't do to annoy her."

Nodding, Reno turned and headed back to Yuffie. They needed to start bringing the plan up a notch.

After the evening meal Reno caught up with Yuffie in their hut. She was looking distinctly irritated when he sat on the floor opposite. "We need to talk," He said, then noticed her look. "What's eating you?"

Yuffie gave an exasperated growl. "Don't ask."

"Okay, I won't," Reno replied casually.

"I can't believe that woman! Do they deliberately pry into everything round here?"

Reno looked at her concerned. "Our cover...?"

Yuffie glared. "Our precious cover is fine," she hissed quietly. "Can we walk?"

"Sure, I need to talk to you anyway."

"If it gets me away from here for a while, good."

Taking one of the camp torches, they walked into the dark of the woods. "So, what's the update?" Yuffie demanded.

"Look, what's this prying about? If there's a chance..."

Yuffie cut him off. "No. Jula seems to have taken on a role of concerned aunt. She just asked me if things between us were okay."

Relieved, Reno now found himself amused and curious as to why Yuffie had been so worked up over it. "So why you so het up about it?"

Yuffie glared at him again. "She asked why we seemed to not have a physical relationship!"

Reno choked, laughing. Yuffie hit him on the back, making a point to hit him harder than was necessary. On regaining his breath, Reno had to ask. "How did she come to this conclusion?"

"Apparently she's concerned and if I ever want to talk..." Yuffie said, her tone mocking. She grimaced. "Jula's not too far away from us and she'd not heard anything. She said it's not right for people our age to not..." She trailed off not really wanting to finish the sentence. "I told her we had a argument."

Reno was still trying not to laugh, but wasn't going to risk getting hit again. "How long has this 'argument' lasted?"

"She said she didn't mean to pry. I know she's just trying to be nice, and I appreciate it, I do. but...urgh! Why can't she ask me if I miss my Dad or something normal like that?"

"You're supposed to be marrying me, from her point of view it probably is normal."

"Still seems weird to me," Yuffie complained. "Can we change the subject now?"

Reno brought her up to speed on all he'd learnt from Evans earlier in the day.

"So we need to get even closer to Evans? Shouldn't be too hard." Yuffie leant against a tree, trying to get comfortable.

"I'm going to get word to Rufus to give us a bigger target, something to get their confidence up. And then I'm gonna to send you in."

"Me? Woohoo! If it gets me away from Jula's 'mothering'."

Reno laughed. "We ought to head back soon."

"If Ru..." Yuffie found her words smothered by Reno's mouth. She was about to kick him when she noticed out of the corner of her eye a person approaching them. Instead, she closed her eyes and played along vowing to kill Reno at her next convenient moment.

A woman coughed politely. "I'm sorry to disturb you. But we're having a get together of the whole camp this evening, we thought you may like to join us. But I shall go, as you are busy."

Yuffie squeezed past Reno and walked quickly over to Jula. "We'd love to," She said brightly. Reno walked just a way from them, partially on the pretence of keeping lookout.

"I'm glad you two seem to have worked thing out.," Jula said, smiling. It's nice when young people can work through their problems. So many end badly these days."

Yuffie smiled and engaged Jula in conversation back to the camp, avoiding looking at Reno unsure she could keep herself from hitting him.


	13. Gongaga

At what point Vincent had decided to go to Gongaga with Cid, he wasn't sure. But as Cid had accompanied him to Edge, watching his back in Gongaga seemed to be a fair exchange. It wasn't much to go on, but they'd both come to the conclusion that the best place to start their search in the area would be to check out the old Mako reactor.

Cid had suggested to Vincent that the girl had probably been right and Tio was completely senile. Quite how Shinra could hold any answers to was debatable, but he conceded that Shinra had hidden a great deal of knowledge generally so it was possible. What this could have to do with an old disused and clapped out Mako reactor in the middle of practically nowhere, he couldn't fathom.

They'd left the Shera and booked into the small ramshackle inn in Gongaga village. Cid didn't come to Gongaga much as it wasn't a regular stop on the trade routes, but he liked the odd rustic charm of the place. It was still run down, though now it no longer had the desolate feel to it that had been present during and just after the Jenova war.

From there they had set back out into the forested area for the old Mako reactor. The path leading towards it was overgrown, a sign no one had been this way for a while. At least long enough for the plants to spread to almost obscure the path's route in places. Reaching the reactor they could see there wasn't much left of parts of it. Natural erosion had taken care of some of it, and the local villagers had done the rest. As much as the residents of Gongaga resented the reactor, building material was building material and whilst the WRO had done much to help out, time constraints and the demands of the rest of planet meant that Gongaga wasn't a high priority.

Looking around the debris and old twisted metal Cid kicked a small rock out of the way. "I can't see how we're supposed to find anything here. There's barely anythin' left and we've no idea what the hell we're lookin' for."

"I don't know," Vincent replied. "That's why we need to look." He ignored Cid grumbling under his breath about the lack of any concrete information. He agreed that the lack of anything solid beyond a name and place was frustrating in itself, but until something came to light or Tio would possibly furnish them with more information, there was little they could do.

Vincent had been quiet since Reeve had given him the letter found at the Shinra mansion. Cid hadn't asked, figuring Vincent would talk if he wanted to. The silence between the two men while not entirely uncomfortable, felt slightly forced. Though he wouldn't ask, or broach the subject, Cid found himself nearly talking for the sake of filling the silence but cutting himself off before he actually spoke because he didn't really know what to say.

They'd searched in silence for three hours, going over the place almost with a fine tooth comb. "I've got nothing," Cid said finally. "This is pointless."

"What would you suggest we do instead?"

"How about wring the old guy's neck until he says something useful?" He sat down on a rusty girder. "I've got no time for these 'enigmatic' types. I don't need to be sent on some life changing adventure, I've had my fair share of those already thanks. I ain't livin' in some damn fairy tale."

Vincent smiled. Cid's practical nature was something that could always be relied on. "I doubt half throttling him will help us much, but I could return to Cosmo Canyon and attempt to see if he knows anything else."

"Might be an idea, because this is getting us nowhere. Finding a damn needle in a haystack would be easier, least we'd know what we're looking for."

"Preparations are in place. It should all go quite smoothly."

--

Reeve was still unconvinced at Rufus' latest idea. "If we move some of the research team into Midgar itself, not only are we taking them away from doing vital work, but we are also placing them at great risk."

"The risk will be minimal, and they're as much at risk at the Generator site if everything goes according to plan." Rufus dismissed Reeve's concerns. "We need to get them into Midgar. Reno has been as far as we can tell, successful in discovering what the group is actually after. I'm almost disappointed at their lack of ambition, after Sephiroth and Kadaj, it seems quite paltry."

"Personally, Rufus, I'm quite happy with the lack of grandeur in their ambitions if that's the case."

Rufus nodded slightly. "I assume, despite their lack of vision, that if we are to treat them as a serious threat you would like to keep our people informed."

Rufus' statement brought it back with clarity just how Shinra had originally worked. Reeve had become so used to the openness between him and close colleagues that he'd all but forgotten the shroud of secrecy that Shinra operated under. "I generally find keeping employees informed useful." His attempt to keep his voice completely free of sarcasm failed.

"Once the plan is underway, I cannot risk getting word to Reno. Our methods, whilst effective are not foolproof. If you can find any information for them, I trust you can find a way to get it to them?" Rufus said, either not caring or not noticing Reeve's tone.

"I can probably find a way." Reeve stopped to think for a moment. "I still think moving key staff into Midgar is asking for trouble."

"And that is why it must be done."

Though he could see the logic behind Rufus' argument, it still left him uncomfortable. He knew the only reason the smaller attacks on Midgar recently had not resulted in any injuries beyond any fake reports was because of Reno's influence on the group. It wasn't the most comforting thought. "So you say."

--

Vincent returned to Gongaga and not before time as far as Cid was concerned. As Vincent had 'borrowed' the Shera and its crew while Cid remained searching, the only thing that had been discovered were the limits to Cid's patience.

"Anything new?" Cid asked, now back on the Shera.

"Tio was most unhelpful in that regard. Though us being here is not a complete loss, as another generator is believed to be somewhere in the region of Gongaga." Vincent was mildly amused at the way Cid was taking his frustration out on his cigarette. He could almost tell his moods apart by the way he smoked.

"Then tomorrow I'll break out the detectors and we can actually look for something a little more concrete than hints and whispers." Cid's mood wasn't improving.

They sat in silence for a while, Vincent still pouring over the files that Reeve had given him originally. Cid wondered if there was something specific Vincent was hoping to find, beyond casual interest. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something in Vincent's demeanour had changed since Reeve had given him that letter, and Cid wasn't sure if he liked what it hinted at.

Vincent looked up from the papers. "Once we've finished here, we need to return to Edge. Reeve needs me to get some information to Yuffie."

"What's the brat up to now?"

"She's gathering information on the terrorist group they're trying to stop."

"I can't see why they can't just bust in there an' break a few heads. It always used to work just fine."

Vincent knew it was pointless to point out that Shinra's methods were far from ideal, Cid was the last person he needed to preach the obvious to. "I think Reeve would prefer to have evidence first."

Cid shrugged. "If Yuffie's there and knows it's them, how much more evidence do they need?"

"The word of one girl isn't sufficient to get a conviction. Though I agree with Reeve that the way they are getting evidence isn't the most unbiased."

"True, but since when has this world ever done anythin' in a way that was genuinely fair?"

Vincent rose from his seat , placed a hand on Cid's shoulder as he spoke. "It's because the world has been so unfair that it needs to change. Goodnight, Cid."

Cid nodded and lit another cigarette as Vincent left the room. He didn't think about the unfairness of what Reeve was doing working with Rufus, or the Space programme that he never saw get off the ground. He thought about the letter that Vincent had and felt, well, he wasn't sure how he felt. But the discovery of the letter irked him. He aggressively stubbed his cigarette out, cursing under his breath trying to work out what the hell had got into him lately.

Irrational anger.

Exaggerated ….

A thought occurred to him. _Vincent?__…__Could he?_ No. He shook his head and summarily dismissed the thought.

The next few days had brought no luck in finding sign of a new generator either. Frustration at the brick wall they seemed to have hit had made Cid skulk back into Gongaga earlier in the day than he'd originally intended, looking for a drink a bit stronger than tea.

The small bar in the bed and breakfast was probably the smallest Cid had ever been in. He'd have been surprised if the place could hold more than five people. After the first drink, he decided the close proximity of the other two patrons was more company than he wanted right now, so he took his pint upstairs to the room he and Vincent was staying in. He sat on the bed refusing to feel guilty that he'd left Vincent searching on his own. As it was, they'd not been searching too far from the town, so Cid felt there was no real need for any concern and he felt more comfortable out of Vincent's company. Finishing his drink, he nodded off to sleep lost in thought.

When he awoke it was dark outside and Vincent was sat on the chair in the corner of the room, reading. Neither man said anything as Cid rose from the narrow bed and walked out onto the small makeshift balcony, refusing to give the fact it looked like it would break any more thought than necessary.

"Here, Vince. Come and look at this."

Vincent joined Cid out on the balcony. The night breeze was warm and carried the smell of cooking from a nearby house. Gongaga looked even less rundown in the dark, looking out in the starlight it could almost be a pretty rural village. Following Cid's gaze, Vincent looked at the moon, now copper coloured and looking twice as large as usual.

"Haven't seen one of those in a while, eh?" Cid asked, though it wasn't actually a question.

"It's the first eclipse I've seen for a while."

"How long's it been, five years?"

"Possibly." Vincent turned to go back inside. "Cid?"

"Uh?" Cid said absently.

"Never mind." Vincent returned to the room.

Cid turned in time to see Vincent's cloak disappear beyond the door. Cursing himself for reasons he wasn't sure he wanted to acknowledge, he lit another cigarette.

When Cid finally came inside, he saw Vincent had removed his cloak and was sitting in the chair reading the latest file reports. "Anything interesting?"

"Much the same as before." He didn't elaborate any further.

Cid nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed. He was getting annoyed with himself, he hadn't felt this awkward when he'd asked Shera to marry him. Vincent was a friend, and a good one at that. Feeling discomfort at being in his friend's company was seriously pissing him off now.

Vincent looked at him and put the papers down. He knew Cid was uneasy about something. Cid was not one for hiding his agitation, and failed when he tried. Without making it obvious that he was trying to discern what was going through Cid's head he more intently tried to read the man.

Cid scratched the back of his head awkwardly and stood up. "I'm gonna get some sleep", he muttered.

Vincent just sat there, surprised at the discovery that Cid seemed to be embarrassed. He averted his eyes, lost in his own thoughts as Cid took his shirt off.

Cid sat on the bed , then stood up again. "Look…" He began. "You see…me and Shera.. Well, I love her…I'm not going to deny that, but…" Cid paced awkwardly, struggling to coherently put his thoughts together. He turned toward the window, his back to Vincent. "Aww shit! I'm no good at this." He spun round to find Vincent standing directly in front of him. Before he could say anything, lips were pressed against his.

His eyes widened slightly at the shock of his friend, so calm and distant most of the time, now kissing him fiercely. Then he stopped thinking.

Vincent for his part, noticed for a fraction of a second that Cid tasted of smoke.

They pulled apart. Vincent stood there and looked at Cid, a hand still resting on his arm. There was no apology in his face, he wasn't sorry. He had spent a lifetime being sorry. Now, it was what it was and Shiva be damned. If Cid wanted to lay him out for it, then that was his call. For the first time in a long time, he'd deal with any regrets later.

"Fucking hell, Vince." That was all Cid said, then he was kissing Vincent again.

No loving words were exchanged, no words were exchanged at all. Driven by passion and need they pulled at each others clothes, hands everywhere. Lips and tongues vying for superiority as Vincent pushed Cid against the wall.


End file.
